The State of Lithuania is an independent and democratic republic.
Location the Republic of Lithuania lies on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea. In the north,
the country borders on Latvia (588 km), in the east – on Belarus (660 km),
in the south – on Poland (103 km) and Kaliningrad Region of the Russian Federation (273 km).
Lithuania holds a 90 kilometre long area of the Baltic Sea coast. As the National Geographic Institute
of France confirmed in 1989, the geographic centre of Europe lies just 24 kilometres northwest of Vilnius.
Total area 65,300 sq. km. Nearly one third of the territory is covered by forests, 4.5% – by inland waters.
There are over 2,800 lakes larger than 0.5 hectares in size, and 18 rivers longer than
100 kilometres in Lithuania.
Climate oceanic/continental. Average temperature in July is +17°C, in January – -4.9°C.
However, temperatures can soar up to +30?C in summer, and drop down to -32?C in winter.
Summers here are pleasantly mild, whereas not every winter offers abundance of snow.
Local Time Lithuania lies in the Central European Time zone (GMT + 2 hours, or same as, for instance,
Helsinki, Riga, and Tallinn).
Population 3.43 million (May 1, 2005) or a 0.6% decrease over the last year.
Ethnic Composition Lithuanians – 83.5%, Polish – 6.7%, Russians – 6.3%, Belarusians – 1.2%, others – 2.3%.
Lithuania is home to as many as 115 ethnic groups. Based on ethnic composition, Lithuania is the
most indigenous of all the Baltic countries.
Religion Predominantly, Roman Catholic (approximately 80% of the total population).
Other confessions include Orthodox, Old Believers, Lutheran, Reformat, Judaist, Sunni,
Karaite and other communities.
Language the state language is Lithuanian. All correspondence and official communication is
conducted in Lithuanian.
Capital Vilnius.
Largest Cities Vilnius – 541,3 thousand; Kaunas – 364,1 thousand; Klaipėda – 188,8 thousand;
Šiauliai – 130,0 thousand; Panevėžys – 116,3 thousand.
