Why did Lithuania remain more rural than Estonia and Latvia between the world wars?

Between the world wars, Lithuania remained more rural than Estonia and Latvia primarily because it had already established a prosperous independent farming class during the tsarist era, which made the need for drastic economic reorganization less urgent than in its neighbors.1

In contrast, Estonia and Latvia faced significant economic challenges following the destruction or relocation of their industrial plants during the wars. Consequently, both countries underwent large-scale agrarian reform to dismantle the semifeudal structures held by the German nobility, redistributing land to the rural proletariat and reorienting their economies toward new industrial sectors, such as electronics in Latvia and oil-shale mining in Estonia.1

While Lithuania also implemented some land redistribution to army volunteers, its economic structure remained focused on agriculture throughout the interwar period, supported by a government-sponsored system of cooperatives that managed the marketing of farm produce. By 1939, this resulted in Lithuania being 77 percent rural, compared to 66 percent for Estonia and 65 percent for Latvia.12