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Lithuania
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Geography |
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Location: Eastern Europe, bordering the Baltic Sea,
between Latvia and Russia
Geographic coordinates: 56 00 N, 24 00 E
Map references: Europe
Area:
total: 65,200 sq km
land: 65,200 sq km
water: 0 sq km
Area - comparative: slightly larger than West
Virginia
Land boundaries:
total: 1,273 km
border countries: Belarus 502 km, Latvia 453 km,
Poland 91 km, Russia (Kaliningrad) 227 km
Coastline: 99 km
Maritime claims:
territorial sea: 12 nm
Climate: transitional, between maritime and
continental; wet, moderate winters and summers
Terrain: lowland, many scattered small lakes,
fertile soil
Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Baltic Sea 0 m
highest point: Juozapines/Kalnas 292 m
Natural resources: peat, arable land
Land use:
arable land: 35%
permanent crops: 12%
permanent pastures: 7%
forests and woodland: 31%
other: 15% (1993 est.)
Irrigated land: 430 sq km (1993 est.)
Natural hazards: NA
Environment - current issues: contamination of
soil and groundwater with petroleum products and
chemicals at military bases
Environment - international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Hazardous
Wastes, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: Air Pollution-Persistent
Organic Pollutants, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol
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Lithuania (Lithuanian Lietuva),
republic in northeastern Europe, bounded on the north by Latvia;
on the east and south by Belarus; on the southeast by Poland and
Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia; and on the west by the Baltic Sea.
Lithuania has an area of about 65,200 sq km (about 25,175 sq
mi). The estimated population in 1992 was 3,761,400. Vilnius,
the capital and largest city of Lithuania, is in the southeast
portion of the country. With Latvia and Estonia, Lithuania is
one of the Baltic republics.
Land and Resources
Lithuania consists of a low-lying plain broken by low hills in
the west and south. Almost the entire territory of the country
is less than 200 m (about 655 ft) in elevation. Lithuania
contains many lakes and rivers, 22 of which have a total length
of 100 km (about 60 mi) or more. The most extensive of these is
the Nemunas, (Neman), a major river that supplies the country
with hydroelectric power. Marshes and swamps are prevalent,
especially in the north and west, although half of all original
wetlands have been drained. The climate is dominated by marine
influences, but conditions are more variable in the eastern
portion of the republic. In the west summers are cooler, and
winters are milder. Average annual precipitation ranges from
less than 600 mm (about 20 in) per year in the center of the
country to more than 850 mm (about 35 in) per year in the west.
Forests, which occupy about one-fourth of total land area,
support an extensive array of wildlife, including deer, wolves,
foxes, and wild boar. Minor oil and gas deposits have been found
near the coast, and offshore areas may contain much larger
deposits.
Population
Lithuanians constitute more than 80 percent of the country's
population. They speak a Baltic language related to Latvian. The
proportion of Lithuanians increased in the first years after the
dissolution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in
1991, as Lithuanians immigrated from other parts of the USSR and
abroad, and ethnic minorities, especially Slavs, left Lithuania
in large numbers. According to 1992 official estimates, Russians
accounted for 8.9 percent of the population, and Poles, 7
percent. Other minorities include Ukrainians, Jews, and
Belarusians. Catholicism is the religion of the Lithuanians.
Other forms of Christianity are also practiced in the country.
Lithuania is highly urbanized, with about 58 percent of the
population living in urban areas. In contrast to most other
republics of the former USSR, Lithuania is not dominated by a
single urban center. Although Vilnius, the capital, is the
largest city (1992 estimated population, 597,000), the country
contains other medium to large cities, such as Kaunas (434,000)
and the seaport Klaipeda (208,000).
Economy
Although agriculture dominated the Lithuanian economy before
Soviet annexation in 1940, industry has become the leading
sector of the economy. Industry accounts for about 40 percent of
gross domestic production (GDP) and nearly 30 percent of total
employment. Food processing, shipbuilding, and the manufacture
of electrical machinery are the most important industries. Other
manufactures include cement, textiles, televisions, and paper.
Agriculture accounts for about 18 percent of employment.
Livestock breeding and dairy farming are the dominant
agricultural activities. The principal crops are grain,
potatoes, sugar beets, and flax. Mineral resources are limited;
they include gypsum, peat, and clay.
Although domestic energy production can meet a large proportion
of the country's needs, the economy has suffered greatly from
Russian demands that fossil-fuel shipments be paid for at world
prices. The two Chernobyl'-style nuclear power reactors at the
Ignalina plant in Lithuania, the only civilian nuclear power
facility in the Baltic republics, can fill roughly half of the
country's energy needs. Technical difficulties, however, have
forced officials to close the plant briefly on more than one
occasion since independence. Minor oil deposits were discovered
in the area of Klaipêda, which should help keep the Mazeikiai
refinery operational. The only oil refinery in the Baltic
republics, the Mazeikiai plant was forced to close down for a
period due to lack of oil. It serves the Kaliningrad Oblast in
Russia, which has prompted Russian officials to resume regular
deliveries of oil. Disruption of economic ties with the former
Soviet republics has devastated the economy; GDP dropped by
about 25 percent in 1992.
After gaining independence, Lithuania began making plans to
introduce its own currency, the litas, to replace the Russian
ruble in circulation. Lithuanian officials decided to first
introduce coupons to supplement rubles, which were in short
supply. The talonas (Lithuanian for “coupon”) was issued freely,
since it was assumed that a wide circulation of the coupons
would aid Lithuanian consumers, with minimal negative economic
consequences. But with energy price shocks and a policy of
indexing wages and pensions, inflation became rampant, and the
value of the talonas dropped steadily. The litas was introduced
as the sole legal tender in 1993, after which the supply of
litas fluctuated greatly. In March 1994 the parliament passed
legislation that fixed the litas to the U.S. dollar at a rate of
4 litas per U.S.$1.
Government
According to the new constitution, which was ratified in October
1992, the president is the head of state of the republic of
Lithuania. The highest legislative authority is the Seimas, or
parliament, a unicameral body composed of 141 members elected to
four-year terms. Seventy-one seats in the Seimas are determined
by direct popular vote, while the remaining seats are allocated
on a proportional basis to each party that receives 4 percent or
more of the total vote. Parties representing ethnic minorities,
such as the Union of Poles, are exempt from the minimum vote
requirement. The president appoints the prime minister, subject
to approval by the Seimas. The country is not a member of the
Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), which is comprised of
former Soviet republics.
History
Some scholars believe that Lithuanians inhabited the Baltic area
as early as 2500 BC; others believe they migrated to the Baltic
area about the beginning of the 1st century AD. The first
reference to them by name was in AD 1009 in a medieval Prussian
manuscript, the Quedlinburg Chronicle.
The Medieval Jagiellon Empire
With the rise of the medieval lords in adjacent Prussia and
Russia, Lithuania was constantly subject to invasion and
attempted conquest. As a result, a loose federation of
Lithuanian tribes was formed in the early Middle Ages. In the
13th century AD, when the Teutonic Knights, a German
militaristic religious order, were establishing their power, the
Lithuanians resisted; in about 1260 they defeated the order.
About a century later a dynasty of grand dukes called the
Jagiellons established, through conquest, a Lithuanian empire
reaching from the Baltic to the Black seas. The Lithuanian
Prince Gedimin occupied Belarus and western Ukraine; his son,
Grand Duke Olgierd, added the territory between Ukraine and the
Black Sea. Jagiello, the son of Olgierd, succeeded his father in
1377. In 1386 he married Jadwiga, queen of Poland, and, after
accepting Christianity, was crowned Wladyslaw II Jagiello, king
of Poland.
Jagiello's cousin, Witold, revolted against him in 1390, and two
years later Jagiello recognized him as vice regent. Witold made
the grand duchy into a prestigious state, and in 1401 Jagiello
created him a duke; together, the reconciled cousins decisively
defeated the Teutonic Knights in 1410. In 1447, under Casimir
IV, the son of Jagiello, Lithuania and Poland were permanently
allied. From 1501, with the accession of Casimir's son,
Alexander I, the countries had one ruler, and in 1569 they
agreed to have a common legislature and an elective king. The
political union was induced by the threat of Russian conquest,
but provided little protection. As a result of the partitions of
Poland in 1772, 1793, and 1795, Lithuania became a part of
Russia, except for a small section awarded to Prussia.
Lithuanians became a completely subject people, but they staged
large-scale nationalist insurrections in 1812, 1831, 1863, and
1905.
Short-Lived Independence
During World War I (1914-1918) the German army occupied
Lithuania, but at the end of the war nationalists established
the country's independence. In August 1922 the Lithuanian
constituent assembly, in session since May 1920, approved a
constitution that proclaimed the country a democratic republic.
Conservative and liberal factions in the Seimas collided during
the next two years. On December 17, 1926, the army and
nationalists, led by the conservative statesman Antanas Smetona,
engineered a coup d'état. All liberals and leftists were
expelled from the Seimas, which then elected Smetona president,
with Augustinas Voldemaras as premier.
Following the rise to power of Adolf Hitler in Germany,
Lithuanian-German friction over the city of Memel (now Klaipeda)
increased steadily. With the outbreak of World War II
(1939-1945) and the partition of Poland by Germany and the USSR,
the Lithuanian and Soviet governments concluded a
mutual-assistance treaty in October 1939. A pro-Soviet
government assumed power in Lithuania the following June.
Shortly thereafter the Communist Working People's Bloc, the only
political party allowed to function, campaigned for inclusion of
Lithuania in the USSR. Political dissidents were rounded up, and
the electorate voted, on July 14-15, 1940, in a single-slate
parliamentary election. The new parliament unanimously approved
a resolution requesting incorporation of Lithuania in the USSR.
The Soviet government granted the request on August 3. The
United States and other democratic powers, however, refused to
recognize the legality of the Soviet annexation.
Soviet Republic
Large-scale anti-Soviet uprisings in Lithuania followed the
German invasion, on June 22, 1941, of the USSR. Unable to
contend with both the revolt and the German onslaught, the
Soviet forces withdrew. The Germans systematically pillaged
Lithuanian resources and, as a national resistance movement
developed, killed more than 200,000 people.
In the summer of 1944 the Soviets reoccupied Lithuania, which
was reestablished as a Soviet republic. The Soviets executed an
estimated 2000 people for collaborating with the Germans and
deported many anti-Communists to Siberia. In 1949 the Communist
regime closed most churches, deported many priests, and
prosecuted people possessing religious images. Additional
deportations and a great influx of Russians and Poles into
Vilnius were noted in 1956. Subsequently, Lithuania settled into
comparative calm, and most nations tacitly accepted its status
as a Soviet republic, although the United States never
recognized its incorporation into the USSR.
Independence Renewed
In the late 1980s, rapid political changes in Eastern Europe and
the USSR sparked a resurgence of Lithuanian nationalism.
Independence was declared in March 1990, but the USSR used
economic, political, and military pressure to keep Lithuania
within the union. After Soviet Communism collapsed in August
1991, however, the central government granted independence to
Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia on September 6, and all three
Baltic republics were admitted to the United Nations later that
month.
As in several other former Soviet republics, such as Azerbaijan
and Georgia, former communists in Lithuania staged a political
comeback in the post-USSR period. Although the anti-Soviet,
pro-independence Sajudis coalition (the Lithuanian Movement for
Reconstruction) won the country's first open parliamentary
elections in February 1990 and successfully led the struggle for
Lithuanian independence, the coalition could not maintain
political leadership. Their popularity dropped as a result of
political infighting in the coalition, a severe economic crisis
caused by the disruption of trade ties with the former Soviet
republics, and a worsening of international relations with
neighboring countries. As a result, the Democratic Labor party (DLP;
the former Communist party of Lithuania) won a majority of seats
in the Seimas in February 1992, and in November 1992 Algirdas
Brazauskas, the DLP leader, was elected president with 60
percent of the vote. Popular support for the new government soon
declined, however, as the DLP leadership also failed to quickly
solve the country's economic problems. In 1993 Lithuania became
the first of the three Baltic states to be free of a Russian
military presence. The last unit of Russian troops left the
country on August 31 of that year.
Background:
Independent between the two World Wars, Lithuania was annexed by
the USSR in 1940. In March of 1990, Lithuania became the first
of the Soviet republics to declare its independence, but this
proclamation was not generally recognized until September of
1991 (following the abortive coup in Moscow). The last Russian
troops withdrew in 1993. Lithuania subsequently has restructured
its economy for eventual integration into Western European
institutions.
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People |
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Population: 3,620,756 (July 2000 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years: 19% (male 357,712; female 342,796)
15-64 years: 67% (male 1,177,732; female
1,259,682)
65 years and over: 14% (male 163,470; female
319,364) (2000 est.)
Population growth rate: -0.29% (2000 est.)
Birth rate: 9.77 births/1,000 population (2000
est.)
Death rate: 12.87 deaths/1,000 population (2000
est.)
Net migration rate: 0.16 migrant(s)/1,000
population (2000 est.)
Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.04 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.93 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.51 male(s)/female
total population: 0.88 male(s)/female (2000 est.)
Infant mortality rate: 14.67 deaths/1,000 live
births (2000 est.)
Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 69.09 years
male: 63.07 years
female: 75.41 years (2000 est.)
Total fertility rate: 1.34 children born/woman (2000
est.)
Nationality:
noun: Lithuanian(s)
adjective: Lithuanian
Ethnic groups: Lithuanian 80.6%, Russian 8.7%,
Polish 7%, Byelorussian 1.6%, other 2.1%
Religions: Roman Catholic (primarily), Lutheran,
Russian Orthodox, Protestant, evangelical Christian
Baptist, Muslim, Jewish
Languages: Lithuanian (official), Polish, Russian
Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 98%
male: 99%
female: 98% (1989 est.)
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Communications |
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Telephones - main lines in use: 1.048 million (1997)
Telephones - mobile cellular: 297,500 (1998)
Telephone system: inadequate but is being
modernized to provide an improved international
capability and better residential access
domestic: a national fiber-optic cable interurban
trunk system is nearing completion; rural exchanges are
being improved and expanded; mobile cellular systems are
being installed; access to the Internet is available;
still many unsatisfied telephone subscriber applications
international: landline connections to Latvia and
Poland; major international connections are to Denmark,
Sweden, and Norway by submarine cable for further
transmission by satellite
Radio broadcast stations: AM 3, FM 112, shortwave
1 (1998)
Radios: 1.9 million (1997)
Television broadcast stations: 82 (mainly
repeater stations) (1998)
Televisions: 1.7 million (1997)
Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 10 (1999)
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Transportation |
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Railways:
total: 2,002 km
broad gauge: 2,002 km 1.524-m gauge (122 km
electrified) (1994)
Highways:
total: 71,375 km
paved: 64,951 km (including 417 km of
expressways)
unpaved: 6,424 km (1998 est.)
Waterways: 600 km perennially navigable
Pipelines: crude oil, 105 km; natural gas 760 km
(1992)
Ports and harbors: Kaunas, Klaipeda
Merchant marine:
total: 52 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling
316,319 GRT/351,700 DWT
ships by type: cargo 23, combination bulk 11, petroleum
tanker 2, rail car carrier 1, refrigerated cargo 11,
roll-on/roll-off 1, short-sea passenger 3 (1999 est.)
Airports: 96 (1994 est.)
Airports - with paved runways:
total: 25
over 3,047 m: 3
2,438 to 3,047 m: 2
1,524 to 2,437 m: 4
914 to 1,523 m: 2
under 914 m: 14 (1994 est.)
Airports - with unpaved runways:
total: 71
2,438 to 3,047 m: 1
1,524 to 2,437 m: 1
914 to 1,523 m: 6
under 914 m: 63 (1994 est.) |
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