Lithuania is a modern independent democratic republic, located in the geographic centre of Europe, neighboring Poland, Latvia, Belarus and Russia.

Lithuania is the largest of the three Baltic States in terms of population, territory and economy. Its territory of 65,300 sq. km is larger than that of Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands or Switzerland. 70% of its lowland plains and hilly uplands are arable and 27.6% covered with forests. Lithuania counts 722 rivers, more than 2,800 lakes and 99 km of coastline on the Baltic Sea.

Lithuania has the biggest population among the Baltic States, ~3.43 million. (83.5% ethnic Lithuanians, 6.7% Polish, 6.3% Russians, and 3.5 % of other nationalities). The capital Vilnius is the biggest city (~600,000 inhabitants), followed by Kaunas (~400,900), Klaipeda (~200,000), Siauliai (~140,000) and Panevezys (~120,000). The primary religious denomination is Roman-Catholic.

The Lithuanian language is closely related to the old Sanskrit and belongs to the Baltic family of Indo-European languages.

Lithuania reestablished its independence in 1990 and joined the World Trade Organization in 2001. Since 2004, Lithuania is member of both the European Union (EU) and the North Athlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

Lithuania‘s currency the Litas is pegged to the euro at a rate of 3.4528 LTL/EUR.

For more information on Lithuania, please visit www.lithuania.lt .

For information on sightseeing in Lithuania, please visit www.lithuaniantravel.com.