About Lithuania

Facts about Lithuania

Coat of Arms and Flag:
State Emblem - the Vytis
The flag : gold, green, red

Location: Lithuania is a state on the eastern
coast of the Baltic Sea.
Neighbouring states: Latvia, Belarus, Poland, and Russia.
Landscape: 70% of its lowland plains and hilly uplands are arable land and 27.6% - forested.
Lithuania's 722 rivers, more than 2,800 lakes and 99 km (61.5 mi.) of Baltic Sea coastline are mostly devoted to recreation and preservation of nature.
Language: the official language of the Republic of Lithuania is the Lithuanian language.
Population: 3,394,000.
Capital: Vilnius.
National currency: litas (Lt). 3.4528 Lt = 1 euro.
Area: Lithuania is 65,300 sq. km (25,206 sq. mi.) and bigger than: The Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium, Latvia, Estonia

Form of government: parliamentary democracy. Head of state: President, the executive branch: Government (appointed by the President), the legislative branch: Seimas (unicameral parliament, direct election).
Administrative division: the territory of Lithuania is divided into 10 counties. Counties are subdivided into 60 municipalities. Municipalities consist of 546 elderships.
Largest cities according to the population: Vilnius (553,200), Kaunas (373,700), Klaipėda (191,600), Šiauliai (132,700), Panevėžys (118,800).
Ethnic composition: Lithuanians: 83.5%, Poles: 6.7%, Russians: 6.3%, Belorussians: 1.2%, other: 2.3%. There are 115 ethnicities in total in Lithuania.
Religion: Roman Catholic Church. There are also communities of Eastern Orthodox Church, Evangelical Lutheran Church, Evangelical Reformation Church, Old Believers, Judaism, Islam, and others.
Lithuania joined NATO 29 March 2004, and on 1 May 2004 it became a member state of the EU.

Climate

Average daytime temperature:

The growing season varies between 169 and 202 days.

Public Holidays:

• January 1: New Year’s Day
• February 16: Day of Reestablishment of the State of Lithuania (1918)
• March 11: Day of Restitution of Independence of Lithuania (from the Soviet Union, 1990)
• Easter (First Sunday and Monday of spring with full moon)
• May 1: International Labour Day
• June 24: St John‘s Feast (Midsummer)
• July 6: Statehood Day (Coronation of Mindaugas)
• August 15: Assumption Day (Žolinė)
• November 1: All Saints’ Day
• December 25 and 26: Christmas

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