Panevėžys is the fifth largest city in Lithuania and the eight most populous city in the Baltic States. As of 2021, it occupies 50 square kilometres (19 sq mi) with 89,000 inhabitants. As defined by Eurostat, the population of the Panevėžys functional urban area, that stretches beyond the city limits, is estimated at 127,471.

The Crimean Karaites or Krymkaraylar, also known as Karaims and Qarays, are an ethnicity of Turkic-speaking adherents of Karaite Judaism in Central and Eastern Europe, especially in the territory of the old Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Crimea. "Karaim" is a Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Polish and Lithuanian name for the community.