Lithuania Population, Main Cities and Geography

By | January 27, 2023

Lithuania Population and cities

Population

According to Countryaah website, Lithuania has about 3.2 million residents.

Ethnic composition

In Lithuania there are approx. 83.5% Lithuanians, approx. 6.3% Russians, approx. 6.7% Poles, approx. 1.2% Belarusians, approx. 0.7% Ukrainians, approx. 0.1 % Latvians and a German minority.

Religious affiliation

In Lithuania there are predominantly Catholics (approx. 80%). There are also Protestant (approx. 1.9%), Russian Orthodox (approx. 4.1%) and Jewish communities.

National language

The national language of Lithuania is Lithuanian, but Russian is also widely spoken and understood.

Capital and other cities

Vilnius, the largest and capital of the Republic of Lithuania with a population of around 543,000, was once an extremely important place for Eastern Europe for centuries. First mentioned in 1323, the city became the capital of the Great Duchy of Lithuania in the 14th century.  According to Abbreviation Finder, LTH stands for Lithuania in English. Click to see other meanings of this 3-letter acronym.

Other large and important cities in Lithuania include:

  • Kaunas with around 377,000 residents
  • Klaipeda with around 193,000 residents
  • Siauliai with around 134,000 residents
  • Panevezys with around 112,000 residents
  • Alytus with around 72,000 residents as well
  • Marijampole with around 71,000 residents.

Lithuania: map

National borders

Lithuania has a common border of 1,731 km with a total of four countries. Check topmbadirectory for politics, flags, famous people, animals and plants of Lithuania.

 

There are limits to:

  • Belarus with a length of around 650 km
  • Poland with a length of around 110 km
  • Latvia with a length of around 546 km
  • Russia with a length of around 303 km.

Coastline

Lithuania has a coast to the Baltic Sea with a length of around 100 km.

Area and land use

Lithuania covers an area of 65,300 km².

Thereof:

  • ForestAround 16% of the country is forested area, that is more than two thirds of the country.
  • Meadow and pasture landAround 22% of the land is used as meadow or pasture land.
  • Fields and fieldsAround 49% of the land is used as arable land or fields, especially for growing grain, sugar beet, potatoes and vegetables.
  • SwampThere are large swamp areas in Lithuania, most of which are protected.
  • MountainsThere are no mountains in Lithuania. The land is flat to hilly.

National borders

Lithuania has a common border of 1,731 km with a total of four countries.

There are limits to:

  • Belarus with a length of around 650 km
  • Poland with a length of around 110 km
  • Latvia with a length of around 546 km
  • Russia with a length of around 303 km.

Coastline

Lithuania has a coast to the Baltic Sea with a length of around 100 km.

Tidal range

In Lithuania the mean tidal range is only around 20 – 40 cm. (For a detailed explanation of ebb and flow, see Tides, Ebb and Flow).

Compare

The world’s highest tidal range can be found in the Bay of Fundy in Canada, where it is up to 16 meters, and at spring tide even over 20 meters. The Bay of Fundy is located on the Atlantic between the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, which is called Nova Scotia in German and whose capital is Halifax. On the German North Sea coast it varies between one and three meters. In the western Baltic Sea, on the other hand, the tidal range is only 0.3 meters, while it is barely noticeable in the eastern Baltic Sea.

Longitude and latitude

Lithuania extends over the following geographical latitude (abbreviation Δφ) and geographical longitude (abbreviation Δλ):

Δφ = from around 53 ° to 56 ° north latitude Δλ = from around 20 ° to 027 ° east longitude

You can find detailed information on this subject under Longitude and Latitude.

Legal time

For Lithuania, the following value applies to Central European Time (CET), i.e. the time without daylight saving time. A minus sign means that it is earlier there, a plus sign that it is later than CET:

Δ t (CET) = + 1 h

Further and detailed explanations of the time can be found under Time zones, time.

The highest level of the sun in Vilnius

Vilnius (Vilna) lies at a northern latitude of around φ = 54.5 °.

If the sun, or its image point, is at the northern tropic, i.e. at δ = 23.5 °, summer starts in Vilnius. That’s June 21st. Then, for the highest position of the sun at noon, according to Eq. 1 (see position of the sun):

54.5 ° = (90 ° – h) + 23.5 °

so:

H = 59 °

At 59 °, the sun in Vilnius has the highest level of the entire year above the horizon (more precisely: above the horizon).

Mountains or elevations

Juozapines

The highest point in the country is the Juozapines with a height of 293 m.

Further surveys are:

Kruopine with a height of 293 m

Nevaisiai with a height of 288 m

Budakalnis (Azusilis) with a height of 284 m

Pavistytis with a height of 282 m.

Rivers

Nemunas, Memel

The longest river in the country is the Nemunas (the Memel) with a length within Lithuania of 475 km and a total length of 935 km. The lower reaches of the Memel together with the soot (= slowly flowing) form the northern part of the Memel delta, which forms the border to the Russian “Oblast Kaliningrad”. The Memel divides west of Tilsit (Kalinigrad Oblast) into its delta arms Ruß (north) and Gilge (south). It rises southwest of Minsk in the Belarusian ridge, which reaches heights of up to 345 m.

Other rivers in the country are:

  • Venta, with a length of around 161 km
  • Lielupe with a length of around 146 km
  • Neris with a length of around 234 km
  • Sesupe with a length of around 209 km
  • Sventoji with a length of around 246 km

Lakes

In Lithuania there are over 2,500 lakes, which cover an area of more than 0.5 ha (1 km² = 100 ha)

Druksiai

The largest lake is the Druksiai with an area of about 4,480 ha = 44.8 km².

Islands

There are no larger islands in front of Lithuania.

Curonian Spit, Nidden (Nida)

The Curonian Spit (= headland) lies between Klaipėda (in German: Memel) in Lithuania and Lesnoi (in the Kalinigrad region). It belongs to the Russian Kaliningrad region.. It is an approximately 100 km long headland, the widest point of which is around 4 km wide. They separate the Curonian Lagoon from the Baltic Sea.

In earlier times the vegetation was cut down in many places on the island, and the sandy soil no longer had a hold. There were shifting dunes, some of which were later planted with pine trees, birches and juniper trees. Places were buried under the great sand dunes until the 19th century. Near Nidda and Pillkoppen are the largest dunes with a height of up to 70 m. Many artists saw the special charm of the landscape, and pictures of the Curonian Spit and the Curonian Lagoon by Lovis Corinth, Bischoff-Culm, Max Pechstein, Schmidt-Rottluff, Wilhelm Eisenblätter, Ernst Mollenhauer and others were created! Thomas Mann built a holiday home here in 1929, where he and his family spent the summer holidays from 1930 to 1932. The house is now a museum.

The Kurschskaya Kossa National Park is located on the peninsula. In addition to the Museum of the Curonian Spit, visitors to the dune landscape can also visit the famous ornithological station in Rossitten.

The Curonian Spit with the sand dune near Nidden (Nida) was added to the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 2000 as a cross-border world heritage site.

Curonian Lagoon, Baltic Sea

Curonian Lagoon

The Curonian Lagoon is part of the Baltic Sea and is separated from it by the Curonian Spit (= headland). The northern part of the lagoon and the spit with the famous sand dune of Nida belongs to Lithuania and the southern part to the Kaliningrad Oblast (part of Russia). The border to the Russian part of the lagoon lies at a northern latitude of around 55 ° 15` – with a length in Lithuania of around 50 km and a maximum width of around 17 km. The length of the Curonian Spit in the area of the Kaliningrad Oblast, which extends here in an almost straight direction from southwest to northeast, is around 45 km. At the border to the Kaliningrad Oblast, the Memelm flows into the lagoon with both of its branches

Baltic Sea

To the north of Klaipeda (Memel), Lithuania borders on the “open” Baltic Sea over a length of around 45 km. For more information about this sea, see Goruma under Baltic Sea.

Lithuania Population