Lithuania
Name
| Official name | Republic of Lithuania — Lietuvos Respublika |
|---|---|
| Former names | The Grand Duchy of Lithuania (1236–1795); the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (1569–1795); the Russian governorates of Vilna, Kovno and Suwałki (1795–1918); the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic (1940–1941, 1944–1990), unrecognized by the West |
| Demonym | Lithuanian |
| Meaning of the name | Lietuva — from the Lietava stream near Kernavė, or the Baltic root for "to pour," the rain; Litua in the annals of 1009 |
| Motto | "Tautos jėga vienybėje" — the strength of the nation lies in unity; on the Seimas |
Quick facts
| Capital | Vilnius — founded by 1323, the capital of the Grand Duchy and of the republic since 1939 in fact and 1918 in law; about 600,000 |
|---|---|
| Largest cities | Vilnius; Kaunas, about 300,000, the capital of 1920–39; Klaipėda, the port, about 150,000; Šiauliai; Panevėžys; Alytus; Marijampolė; Mažeikiai; Jonava; Utena |
| Official language | Lithuanian — a Baltic language, the most conservative living Indo-European tongue, closest to Sanskrit in its forms; Polish, Russian and Belarusian in the southeast; English by the young, Russian by the old |
| Currency | Euro — EUR, €; since 1 January 2015, replacing the litas at 3.4528 |
| Time zone | Eastern European Time, UTC+2; summer time UTC+3 |
| Calling code | +370 |
| Internet domain | .lt |
| ISO 3166 codes | LT · LTU · 440 |
| Vehicle registration code | LT |
| Driving side | Right |
| Electricity | 230 V, 50 Hz; plug types C and F |
| Independence | 16 February 1918, proclaimed at Vilnius by the Council of Lithuania; restored 11 March 1990 by the Act of the Supreme Council, the first of the Soviet republics; recognized by the Union 6 September 1991 |
| National days | 16 February, the Restoration of the State; 11 March, the Restoration of Independence; 6 July, Statehood Day, the coronation of Mindaugas in 1253; 13 January, the Defenders of Freedom, for 1991; 24 June, Joninės, the midsummer; 1 November, All Saints, and 2 November; 8 May; Christmas and Easter, Kūčios the eve of the twelve dishes |
| Constitution | 25 October 1992 — the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania, approved by referendum with 75%, in force 2 November 1992; the Constitutional Act of 1992 barring any union with the post-Soviet east; amended for the EU, the impeachment of a president in 2004 and the Constitutional Court's rulings |
| Population | 2,810,761 at the census of 2021; about 2.9 million (Statistics Lithuania, 2026 est.) — from 3.7 million in 1990, rising again since 2020 |
| Area | 65,300 km² (25,212 sq mi) — land 62,680 km², water 2,620 km² |
Flag & national symbols
| National flag | Three horizontal bands of yellow, green and red — the sun and the fields of rye, the forests and hope, and the blood shed for the land — adopted by the Council of Lithuania on 25 April 1918, banned by the Soviets, raised again over Gediminas' tower on 7 October 1988 and restored by law on 18 November 1988; the state flag beside it the Vytis, the white knight on red, the banner of Grunwald.Flag of Lithuania |
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| Coat of arms | The Vytis — "the chaser" — a white armored knight on a white horse galloping to the left with a raised sword and a shield bearing the double cross of the Jagiellons, on a red field; the seal of Grand Duke Algirdas of 1366, among the oldest arms in Europe; restored 1990, redrawn 1991 by Arvydas Každailis |
| National anthem | "Tautiška giesmė" ("National Hymn") — "Lietuva, Tėvyne mūsų," Lithuania, our homeland — words and music by Vincas Kudirka, the doctor and poet, 1898; the anthem from 1919, banned in 1950, restored 1988; sung around the world on 6 July at 9 p.m. |
| National motto | "Tautos jėga vienybėje" |
| National colors | Yellow, green and red |
| National bird | The white stork — the gandras, whose nests are on the poles of every village and whose return on 25 March is the Day of the Stork; the country with the densest stork population in the world; declared 1973 |
| National flower | The rue — the rūta, the green herb of the maidens' wreaths and the folk songs; widely cited and unofficial |
| National tree | The oak — the ąžuolas, sacred to the old faith, the Stelmužė oak the oldest in Europe by the claim; widely cited |
| National stone | Amber — the gintaras of the Baltic coast, the Amber Road of the Romans, the museum of Palanga |
| National dish | Cepelinai — the "zeppelins," potato dumplings stuffed with meat under sour cream and bacon; šaltibarščiai, the cold pink beet soup of summer; the black bread; the kibinai of the Karaim of Trakai; the Šakotis tree cake; widely cited |
| Symbol status | The flag and arms are fixed by the Constitution and the laws of 1991; the anthem by the Constitution; the bird by declaration; the flower, tree, stone and dishes widely cited |
Geography
| Location | Northern Europe on the Baltic — the southernmost Baltic state, Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, Poland and Russia's Kaliningrad exclave to the southwest; the geographic center of Europe by the French survey of 1989 at Purnuškės, 26 km north of Vilnius |
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| Land borders | 1,545 km (960 mi) with four neighbors — Belarus 640, Latvia 544, Russia's Kaliningrad 261, Poland 104; the fence of 550 km on the Belarusian line since 2021; the Suwałki Gap, the 65 km of the Polish border between Belarus and Kaliningrad, NATO's most watched ground |
| Coastline | 90 km (56 mi) — the Curonian Spit and the shore of Palanga and Klaipėda; the Curonian Lagoon behind the spit |
| Highest point | Aukštojas, 294 m (965 ft), in the Medininkai uplands |
| Lowest point | The Baltic Sea, 0 m |
| Mean elevation | 110 m (361 ft) |
| Rivers | The Nemunas — the Neman — 937 km, 475 in the country, from Belarus past Druskininkai, Kaunas and the delta to the lagoon, the river of the nation; the Neris of Vilnius, 510 km, to Kaunas; the Venta to Latvia; the Šešupė; the Minija; the Šventoji |
| Lakes | Some 3,000 lakes, most in the Aukštaitija of the northeast — Drūkšiai, 45 km², the largest, on the Belarusian border, the coolant of the Ignalina plant; Dysnai; the Trakai lakes with the island castle; Tauragnas, the deepest at 62 m; the Curonian Lagoon, 1,600 km², most of it Russian |
| Terrain | The lowland of the Nemunas and the Baltic plain; the uplands of Žemaitija in the west and Aukštaitija and Dzūkija in the east and south, under 300 m; the forests, a third of the land; the Curonian Spit with its dunes to 60 m, the "Lithuanian Sahara" of Nida; the four regions of Aukštaitija, Žemaitija, Dzūkija and Suvalkija and the fifth, Lithuania Minor |
| Climate | Temperate between maritime and continental — mild summers, winters of snow from December to March; about 650 mm of rain, the coast wetter; the white nights of June |
| Natural hazards | Floods of the Nemunas delta in spring; the storms of the coast; the drought of the dry summers; the winter of −30°C in the east; the Chernobyl fallout of 1986 and the Ignalina reactor of the same design, closed in 2009 at the EU's demand |
| Natural resources | Peat; amber; the clay, limestone and gravel; the small oil of Žemaitija; the forests; the wind of the coast and the sea; the farmland of the plain |
| Land use | Agricultural land about 45%; forest about 35% |
| National parks | 5 — Aukštaitija, the first, 1974, of the lakes; the Curonian Spit; Dzūkija, the largest, of the pines and the Nemunas; Žemaitija of Lake Plateliai; Trakai, the historical park of the castle; the 30 regional parks; the Čepkeliai bog |
| UNESCO World Heritage | 5 — the Vilnius Historic Centre (1994); the Curonian Spit (2000, shared with Russia); the Kernavė archaeological site (2004), the medieval capital; the Struve Geodetic Arc (2005, shared with nine countries); Modernist Kaunas, the optimism of the interwar capital (2023); the cross-crafting, the Song Festival, the sutartinės polyphony and the Baltic Way's documents on the intangible and memory lists |
| Administrative divisions | 10 counties — apskritys — of 60 municipalities: 7 city municipalities, 43 district municipalities and 10 municipalities; the counties without governments since 2010; the elderships beneath |
People
| Population | 2,810,761 (census of 2021); about 2.9 million (2026 est.) |
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| Population density | About 44 per km² (115 per sq mi) |
| Population growth | About +0.5% a year since 2020 by immigration — the Ukrainians of 2022, the Belarusians of 2020, the returning emigrants; the births still below the deaths |
| Median age | About 45 years |
| Life expectancy | About 77 years — the gap between women and men, nine years |
| Fertility rate | About 1.2 births per woman — among the lowest in Europe |
| Urban population | About 69% |
| Adult literacy | About 100% |
| Ethnic groups | Lithuanian about 85%; Polish about 6.5%, in the Vilnius region and Šalčininkai; Russian about 5%, in Vilnius, Klaipėda and Visaginas of the plant; Belarusian about 1%; Ukrainian, rising; the Karaim of Trakai and the Tatars of the Grand Duke's guard, a few hundred each; the Jews, 200,000 before 1941 and 95% murdered, about 3,000 (census of 2021) |
| Languages | Lithuanian by about 85% as mother tongue and by nearly all; Russian by about 60% as a second language, English by the young; Polish; the Samogitian of the west, a dialect or a language |
| Religion | Roman Catholic about 74% — the last pagan nation of Europe, baptized in 1387, and the most Catholic of the Baltics; Orthodox about 4%, the Russians; Old Believers; Lutheran about 1%; no religion about 6%; the Hill of Crosses and the Romuva revival of the old faith (census of 2021) |
| Human Development Index | 0.895 (2023 data, 2025 report) — very high; about 35th of 193 |
| The Soviet years | The occupation of 15 June 1940, the deportations of 14 June 1941 and of 1945–52 — about 130,000 to Siberia, the largest of the Baltic three — the Holocaust of 1941–44 with some 195,000 Lithuanian Jews killed, most by the end of 1941, at Ponary and the pits; the Forest Brothers' war of 1944–53 with some 20,000 partisans dead; the Sąjūdis of 1988, the Baltic Way of 23 August 1989, the declaration of 11 March 1990, the Soviet blockade and the assault of 13 January 1991 on the television tower with 14 civilians dead |
| Sport | Basketball — the second religion: the European champions of 1937, 1939 and 2003, the Olympic bronzes of 1992, 1996 and 2000 by the team of Sabonis and Marčiulionis in the Grateful Dead's tie-dye, Domantas Sabonis in the NBA, Žalgiris Kaunas the temple; the swimmers Rūta Meilutytė, the Olympic champion of 2012 at 15, and Danas Rapšys; the discus of Virgilijus Alekna; the Song Festival every four years since 1924 |
| Diaspora | About a million of Lithuanian descent abroad — the emigrants of 1868–1914 to the United States, Chicago the "second Vilnius"; the exiles of 1944; the 700,000 who left after 1990 to Britain, Ireland, Norway, Germany and Spain; the returns of the 2020s |
Government
| Form of government | Unitary semi-presidential republic under the Constitution of 1992 — the president elected by the people for five years, twice, as head of state, with foreign policy and defense, the veto and the nomination of the prime minister; the prime minister head of government with the Seimas's confidence; the Seimas of 141; the Constitutional Court |
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| President | Gitanas Nausėda (independent), since 12 July 2019 — the ninth; the chief economist of SEB bank, born 19 May 1964 at Klaipėda; elected 26 May 2019 with 66% in the runoff and re-elected 26 May 2024 with 74.4% against Ingrida Šimonytė, the largest share in the country's history; the voice of the hard line on Russia and Belarus, the summit host of NATO in July 2023; his term to 2029 |
| Prime Minister | Mindaugas Sinkevičius (Social Democratic Party of Lithuania — LSDP), since 14 July 2026 — the 20th; the former economy minister and mayor of Jonava, the party's chairman, born 1984; the head of the government formed after the Social Democrats' break with Nemunas Dawn in June 2026, with the Farmers and Greens and the smaller partners; Inga Ruginienė returned to the social security ministry under him |
| The three prime ministers | Gintautas Paluckas, prime minister from 12 December 2024 after the Social Democrats' win, resigned 4 August 2025 over his business ties to a firm of his sister-in-law and the loans of a state agency, denying wrongdoing; Rimantas Šadžius the finance minister acting; Inga Ruginienė, the trade-union leader of 44 who had joined the party a year before, confirmed by the Seimas on 26 August and sworn in 25 September 2025 — the second woman in the office — with 2,000 protesting outside against her coalition with Nemunas Dawn, whose founder Remigijus Žemaitaitis had resigned from the Seimas over the Constitutional Court's finding of antisemitic posts; the coalition's collapse in June 2026 over security policy and its tensions, her government's end on 14 July 2026 |
| The 2024 election | Held 13 and 27 October 2024 for the 141 seats: the Social Democrats 52, up 39, the largest since 2004; the Homeland Union of Šimonytė 28, down 22; Nemunas Dawn 20, in its first election; the Liberal Movement 12; the Farmers and Greens 8; the Democrats "For Lithuania" 14; the Polish list and the rest; turnout 52.2% in the first round; the cost of living and the defense the issues; Saulius Skvernelis the Speaker, of the Democrats |
| Parliament | The Seimas — 141 members elected for four years, 71 in single-member districts by two rounds and 70 by national list with a 5% threshold, 7% for coalitions; the successor of the Seimas of the Grand Duchy of 1445 |
| The next election | The Seimas in October 2028; the presidential election in May 2029 |
| The balloons and Belarus | The weather balloons launched from Belarus carrying smuggled cigarettes into Lithuanian airspace from the autumn of 2025 — Vilnius airport closed more than 60 hours and Kaunas too, the two border crossings of Medininkai and Šalčininkai shut from late October to 19 November 2025, the shooting-down ordered, and the state of emergency declared on 9 December 2025 with the army sent to the border with the police and the guards; "a hybrid attack" orchestrated by the Belarusian services, Ruginienė said; "exaggerated and politicised," Lukashenko said, denying it; the migrants pushed across the border since 2021 and the fence; the Kaliningrad transit fight with Moscow of 2022; the arson for Russia, the IKEA fire of 2024 and the teenager convicted in 2025 |
| Defense | The Lithuanian Armed Forces of about 25,000 with the conscription restored in 2015 and the Riflemen's Union of 15,000 volunteers; defense spending at 4% of GDP in 2025 and 5.38% in 2026, the first NATO member past 5%, toward 5–6% to 2030; the German brigade of 5,000 at Rūdninkai, the first permanent Bundeswehr deployment abroad, full by 2027; the NATO battle group at Rukla under Germany since 2017; the Baltic air policing from Šiauliai since 2004; the Baltic Defense Line of bunkers; the drone wall |
| The Soviet reckoning | The Communist Party banned, the KGB collaborators listed, the lustration; the Genocide and Resistance Research Centre and the museum in the KGB building of Vilnius; the streets of the partisans; the Russian citizens made to leave or to pass the test since 2022; the Soviet monuments down; the Russian TV banned since 2022 |
| Legal system | Civil law on the German and French models; the Constitutional Court of 1993, the impeacher of President Paksas in 2004, the first in Europe; the Supreme Court; the same-sex partnership unlegislated |
| Local government | 60 municipalities with directly elected mayors since 2015 and councils, the elections last in March 2023; Valdas Benkunskas the mayor of Vilnius |
| European Union | Member since 1 May 2004; the eurozone since 2015, the last of the Baltics; the Schengen area since 21 December 2007; the presidency of the Council in the second half of 2013 with the Vilnius summit that Yanukovych walked out of, the spark of the Maidan; the Commission's Virginijus Sinkevičius of 2019–24 |
| NATO | Member since 29 March 2004; the summit of Vilnius of 11–12 July 2023; the German brigade; the Suwałki Gap; the strongest voice for Ukraine in the alliance by share of GDP given |
| United Nations | Member since 17 September 1991; a Security Council seat in 2014–15; the Baltic grid synchronized with Europe on 9 February 2025 |
| Other memberships | The Council of Europe (1993), the OECD (2018), the WTO (2001), the OSCE, the Nordic-Baltic Eight, the Baltic Assembly, the Three Seas Initiative, the Lublin Triangle with Poland and Ukraine |
Economy
| GDP (nominal) | About US$85 billion (2025, IMF) — the largest of the Baltic economies |
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| GDP per capita | About US$29,000 (2025) |
| GDP per capita (PPP) | About US$55,000 (2025) — above the EU average by purchasing power, from a third of it in 2004 |
| GDP growth | About 3% a year (2024–25) — the fastest of the Baltics; inflation about 3% from 19% in 2022; unemployment about 7% |
| Economy by sector | Services about 65%, industry about 30%, agriculture about 3% |
| Currency | Euro (EUR) |
| Lasers and the tech | The lasers of Vilnius — Ekspla, Light Conversion, Šviesos Konversija — a tenth of the world's scientific lasers and half the femtosecond ones, the pride of the physics of the Soviet years; the fintech of Vilnius under the Bank of Lithuania's licenses, the largest hub of the EU by their number, Revolut's European bank; the biotech of Thermo Fisher's Vilnius plant; the game studios; the Vinted marketplace, the first unicorn |
| Industry and exports | The refinery of Mažeikiai of Orlen, the largest in the Baltics; the fertilizers of Achema at Jonava; the furniture for IKEA, the largest supplier; the wood and the plastics; the food and the dairy; the Klaipėda ships; exports about US$45 billion, to Latvia, Germany, Poland and the United States |
| Energy | The Ignalina nuclear plant closed on 31 December 2009 at the EU's demand, the country turned importer; the LNG terminal "Independence" of 2014 at Klaipėda that ended Gazprom's monopoly and the Russian gas at all since 2022; the electricity links to Sweden and Poland, the grid cut from Russia in February 2025; the wind on land and the offshore farm planned; the biomass of Vilnius |
| Agriculture | Grain — the wheat of the plain, a large exporter; the dairy; the rapeseed; the potatoes of the dumplings; the flax of old |
| Public finances | Public debt about 40% of GDP; the deficit about 3% with the defense bill rising, the taxes raised in 2025 for it; the EU funds |
| Income classification | High income (World Bank); an OECD member since 2018 |
Transport & infrastructure
| Main airports | Vilnius International Airport — about 6 million passengers, closed again and again in 2025 by the balloons; Kaunas, the Ryanair base; Palanga on the coast; Šiauliai the air base |
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| Airline | No national carrier since flyLAL failed in 2009 — airBaltic, Ryanair and Wizz Air the links; the charters of GetJet and Avion |
| Main port | Klaipėda — the old Memel, ice-free, the northernmost such on the eastern Baltic, about 40 million metric tons, the largest port of the Baltic states, the Belarusian potash lost by the sanctions of 2022; the LNG terminal; the ferries to Kiel and Karlshamn |
| Railways | About 1,900 km (1,180 mi) of the Russian gauge — the Lithuanian Railways, its freight cut by the sanctions and the Kaliningrad transit rules; the Vilnius–Kaunas and Klaipėda lines; Rail Baltica, the standard-gauge line from Tallinn through Kaunas to Warsaw, the Kaunas–Polish border stretch open since 2015, the whole line toward 2030; the Kaliningrad trains through Kybartai |
| Roads | About 85,000 km (53,000 mi); the A1 motorway from Vilnius through Kaunas to Klaipėda, the spine; the Via Baltica A5 to Poland and Latvia; the Via Carpatia to come |
| The spit | The ferry from Klaipėda to Smiltynė and the one road down the Curonian Spit to Nida and the Russian line, the cars limited and the dunes walked |
History in dates
| 1009 | Lithuania first named — the annals of Quedlinburg |
|---|---|
| 1236 | The Battle of Saule — the Balts crush the Sword Brothers; Mindaugas unites the land |
| 1253 | Mindaugas crowned king, 6 July — the only king |
| 1323 | Gediminas writes from Vilnius — the capital |
| 1385 | The Union of Krewo — Jogaila to the Polish throne |
| 1387 | The baptism of Lithuania, the last pagan state in Europe |
| 1410 | Grunwald — Žalgiris, 15 July — the Teutonic Knights broken |
| 1430 | Vytautas the Great dies — the Grand Duchy from the Baltic to the Black Sea, the largest state in Europe |
| 1569 | The Union of Lublin, 1 July — the Commonwealth |
| 1579 | Vilnius University founded |
| 1795 | The Third Partition — Russia |
| 1864 | The press ban in Latin letters — the book smugglers, to 1904 |
| 1918 | Independence, 16 February |
| 1920 | Vilnius seized by Poland, 9 October; Kaunas the capital |
| 1923 | Klaipėda taken, 15 January |
| 1939 | Vilnius returned by the Soviets, 10 October, for the bases |
| 1940 | The Soviet occupation, 15 June |
| 1941 | The deportations, 14 June; the Germans, 22 June; the Holocaust |
| 1944 | The Soviets return; the Forest Brothers, to 1953 |
| 1988 | Sąjūdis founded, 3 June; the flag restored |
| 1989 | The Baltic Way, 23 August |
| 1990 | Independence restored, 11 March — the first |
| 1991 | The television tower, 13 January — 14 dead; recognized, 6 September; the UN, 17 September |
| 1992 | The Constitution, 25 October |
| 2004 | NATO, 29 March; the European Union, 1 May; Paksas impeached, 6 April |
| 2009 | Ignalina closed, 31 December |
| 2015 | The euro, 1 January |
| 2019 | Nausėda president, 12 July |
| 2023 | The NATO summit at Vilnius, 11–12 July |
| 2024 | Nausėda re-elected, 26 May; the Seimas election, 27 October |
| 2025 | The grid, 9 February; Paluckas resigns, 4 August; Ruginienė, 25 September; the border closed, October; the emergency, 9 December |
| 2026 | The coalition collapses, June; Sinkevičius prime minister, 14 July |
Records & firsts
| The first to declare independence from the Soviet Union | 11 March 1990 |
|---|---|
| The largest state in Europe, once | The Grand Duchy of the 15th century |
| The most conservative living Indo-European language | Lithuanian |
| The last pagan state in Europe | Baptized 1387 |
| The geographic center of Europe | Purnuškės, by the 1989 survey |
| The densest stork population | On the poles of every village |
| A tenth of the world's scientific lasers | Vilnius |
| The first NATO member past 5% of GDP | 5.38% in 2026 |
| The Baltic Way | Two million hands, 1989 |
| The first impeachment of a president in Europe | Paksas, 2004 |
| The highest drifting dunes in Europe | The Curonian Spit |
| Three prime ministers in a year | 2025–26 |
| A book-smuggling nation | The knygnešiai of 1864–1904 |
| The Hill of Crosses | Some 100,000 crosses, bulldozed and regrown |
Frequently asked questions
What is the official name of Lithuania?
The Republic of Lithuania — Lietuvos Respublika — proclaimed on 16 February 1918 in Vilnius by the Council of Lithuania, occupied by the Soviet Union in 1940 and restored on 11 March 1990, when its parliament became the first in the Union to declare independence, ten months before the Soviet army's attack on the Vilnius television tower and seventeen before the world's recognition. The name is a thousand years old: Litua in the annals of Quedlinburg of 1009, the first mention, perhaps from the Lietava, a stream in the country's heart, or from the word for the rain.
What is the capital of Lithuania?
Vilnius, at the meeting of the Neris and the Vilnia in the southeast, 30 km from the Belarusian border — the city of Gediminas's iron wolf of 1323, the capital of the Grand Duchy, the "Jerusalem of the North" of the Jews until 1941, the Polish Wilno of the interwar years and the capital of the republic again; about 600,000 people, with the largest baroque old town of eastern Europe as a World Heritage site. Kaunas, the interwar capital at the meeting of the Nemunas and the Neris, is the second city; Klaipėda, the old Memel, the port; Šiauliai, Panevėžys and Alytus follow.
How big is Lithuania, and how many people live there?
About 65,300 km² (25,212 sq mi) — a little larger than West Virginia, about the size of Sri Lanka, the largest of the three Baltic states — on the Baltic between Latvia and Poland with Belarus behind it and Russia's Kaliningrad on its flank, a plain of forests and 3,000 lakes. The census of 2021 counted 2,810,761 people; Statistics Lithuania estimates about 2.9 million for 2026, a population that fell by a fifth after 1990 through emigration and has turned upward since 2020 with the Ukrainians, Belarusians and returning Lithuanians; Lithuanians are about 85 percent, Poles 6 and Russians 5.
What are the highest and lowest points of Lithuania?
Aukštojas, 294 m (965 ft), a hill of the Medininkai uplands near the Belarusian border in the southeast, measured only in 2004 to be a meter higher than the Juozapinė that had held the title; and the Baltic Sea and the Curonian Lagoon. The Nemunas, 937 km, runs 475 km through the country from Belarus past Kaunas to the lagoon at Rusnė; the Neris joins it at Kaunas after Vilnius; the Curonian Spit, the dune 98 km long shared with Russia, closes the lagoon from the sea and holds the highest drifting dunes in Europe.
What currency does Lithuania use?
The euro (ISO code EUR, €), since 1 January 2015, when it replaced the litas at 3.4528 — the litas of 1922 and of 1993, given up as the nineteenth eurozone member and the last of the Baltics. Clocks keep Eastern European Time, UTC+2, with summer time; Lithuania drives on the right.
Who governs Lithuania?
President Gitanas Nausėda, the head of state since 12 July 2019 and re-elected on 26 May 2024 with 74 percent, the largest majority in the country's history, who names the prime minister and leads on foreign policy and defense; and Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevičius of the Social Democrats, head of government since 14 July 2026 — the third in a year, after Gintautas Paluckas resigned in August 2025 over his business affairs and Inga Ruginienė's government of September 2025 fell when the Social Democrats ended their coalition with the populist Nemunas Dawn in June 2026 over security policy. The government declared a state of emergency in December 2025 over the balloons sent across the border from Belarus that closed Vilnius airport again and again, and spends more than 5 percent of GDP on defense. The next Seimas election is due in October 2028.
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