Area 65,200 km²
Total length of the national border: 1,732 km.
Capital: Vilnius
Length of the Baltic Sea coast: 90.66 km.
Population: 3,596,617 (July 2005)
Borders: Latvia, Belarus, Poland, Russia
Languages
Official language: Lithuanian
Lithuanian is closely related to Latvian. More than 80% of the country’s 3.8 million inhabitants speak Lithuanian as their first language. The Lithuanian language has two dialects: Aukštaičių (Aukštaitian, highland Lithuanian), Žemaičių/Žemaitiu (Samogitian, lowland Lithuanian).
Geography
Lithuania lies on the edge of the East European Plain. Its landscape was shaped by the glaciers of the last Ice Age. Lithuania’s terrain is an alternation of temperate lowlands and highlands. The highest elevation is 297 meters above sea level and is located in the eastern part of the republic and is separated from the highlands of the western Zemaiciai region by the very fertile plains of the southwestern and central regions. The landscape is punctuated by 2,833 lakes larger than one hectare and another 1,600 ponds smaller than one hectare. Most of the lakes are in the east of the country. Lithuania also has 758 rivers longer than ten kilometers. The largest river is the Nemunas (total length 917 km), which has its source in Belarus. The other major waterways are the Neris (510 km), Venta (346 km) and Sesupe (298 km) rivers. However, only 600 kilometers of Lithuanian rivers are navigable.
Nature
Lithuania’s countryside is pleasing to the eye but modest in resources. The area is rich in limestone, clay, quartz sand, gypsum sand and dolomite suitable for the production of high quality cement, glass and ceramics. Oil was discovered in Lithuania in the 1950s, but few wells are operational in the west of the country. Lithuania has five national parks (Aukštaitijos, Dzūkijos, Žemaitijos, Kuršių nerijos and Trakų) and 30 regional parks full of primeval forests and pristine wetlands inhabited by protected wildlife and rare birds.
