Facts about Lithuania

Country has an area of 65,200 square meters. Capital - is Vilnius. Lithuania state is located in the eastern Baltic Sea coast. French National Geographic Institute in 1989 found that Lithuania is the geographical center of Europe. Lithuania' neighbors - are Latvia, Belarus, Poland, Russia (Kaliningrad).
There are 2011 m. 3 239 032 residents. Density – 52,00 people./km².

Ethnic composition of the Lithuanian population: 84% of Lithuanians, Polish 6.1%, Russians 4.9%, other 5%.

Average life expectancy in Lithuania - 71 years, men - 66, women - 77.

Official language - Lithuanian language belongs to the Baltic language group (for this group also belong the Latvian and the dead Prussian language. This is the most archaic of all Indo-European languages. Many people also speak Russian, the younger generation - in English.

Lithuania is a very religious country, not in vain called "Mary Land". Currently, 79 percent Lithuanian population consider themselves as Roman Catholics.

Euro is the currency of the Republic.

Republic of Lithuania is a parliamentary democracy. Sovereign of a state -is the President, the executive power - the government (appointed by the president), legislative power - the Parliament (the parliament is elected directly). Currently president of the Republic of Lithuania - is Dalia Grybauskaite.

The climate in Lithuania is - an average medium-warm temperate zones, from the maritime going to continental. The average July temperature is about 17 ° C, and in winter is about -5 ° C. Record heat in Lithuania was +37.5 ° C, the cold record - was -42.9 ° C.

Lithuania - is a flat country, which make up about 75 percent of area of the country. The highest hills are: mountain of Ausktasis - 293.8 m Joseph - 293.6, Kruopine - 293.4 Forests and shrubs cover about 30 percent of Lithuania space.

The largest forests: Dainava praises - 1450 square km., Labanoras - 911 square km., forest Kazlu Ruda - 587 sq. km. The total length of rivers in Lithuania is 76 800 km. The longest river: Nemunas - 937 miles (475 km of the territory of Lithuania), Neris - 510 miles (234 km) Venta - 343 miles (161 km). The largest lake in Lithuania: Druksiai - 44.8 sq. km, Dysnos - 24 sq. km, Dusia – 23,3 kv.km.

Lithuanian territory is divided into 10 counties. The county consists of 60 municipalities. Municipalities are divided into 546 wards. Currently, counties are officially lifted, but many are still distributed along the county. The biggest Lithuanian cities: Vilnius - 541 824 inhabitants, Kaunas - 360 637 inhabitants, Klaipeda - 187 316 inhabitants.

Lithuania declared independence in 1918 the 16th of February and restored in 1990 the 11th of March (Lithuania became the first Soviet country that get it independence).

In 2004 on the 29th of March Lithuania became a NATO member and in 2004 May 1st. - became EU membership.

National Holidays are: New Year' Day on January 1st, Lithuanian Independence Day on the 16th of February, Lithuanian Independence Day on the 11st of March , Easter, the International Labour Day on the 1st of May, Mother' Day on the first Sunday in May, St. John' Day on the 24th of June, Statehood Day on the 6th of July, on the 15th of August, there is Assumption Day on the 15th of August, All Saints Day on the 1st of November and on the 25-26th for December there is Christmas.

Useful information for foreign visitors

Air transport: Air transport connections with Lithuania are excellent. Lithuania has three international passenger airport - Vilnius (www.vilnius-airport.lt), Kaunas (www.kaunasair.lt) and Palanga (www.palanga-airport.lt). Vilnius with other major Western and Eastern European cities is scheduled routes connects by the 11 airlines, Kaunas - 3 airline, Palanga (coastal resort near the port city of Klaipeda) - 5 airline. Lithuania has a total number of 27 airports and airfields, most of them can take private planes.

Car speed in settlements is - 50 km / h, in urban national roads - 90 / h, in motorways - 110 km / h (11 01-03 31) and 130 km / h (04 01-10 31), where the road signs indicated otherwise. Technical assistance on the road all day is on the - tel. 1888.

Mobile GSM connection: in Lithuania there are three major mobile service providers - Omnitel, Bite GSM and Tele2, which ensure excellent communication not only in Lithuania but also in many countries around the world.

The general emergency number is 112 and works in all public telephone networks throughout the territory of the Republic of Lithuania. This number at any time and from mobile phone and also from a landline phone you can call free and notify the offense, any risk to life, health, safety, environment and so on and summon the emergency services.