| Republic of Lithuania
Lietuvos Respublika (Lithuanian)
| |
|---|---|
Location of Lithuania (dark green)
| |
.svg)
Location of Lithuania in the World
| |
| Capital and largest city | Vilnius 54°41′N25°19′E |
| Official languages | Lithuanian |
| Ethnic groups (2015[1]) |
|
| Demonym | Lithuanian |
| Government | Unitary semi-presidentialrepublic[2][3][4][5] |
| Dalia Grybauskaitė | |
| Saulius Skvernelis | |
| Viktoras Pranckietis | |
| Legislature | Seimas |
| Independence from Russia / Germany (1918) | |
| 9 March 1009 | |
• Coronation of Mindaugas
| 6 July 1253 |
| 2 February 1386 | |
• Polish–Lithuanian
Commonwealth created | 1 July 1569 |
| 24 October 1795 | |
| 16 February 1918 | |
| 15 June 1940 | |
| 22 June 1941 | |
| July 1944 | |
| 11 March 1990 | |
• Independence recognized by the Soviet Union
| 6 September 1991 |
• Admitted to the United Nations
| 17 September 1991 |
| 29 March 2004 | |
| Area | |
• Total
| 65,300 km2(25,200 sq mi) (121st) |
• Water (%)
| 1.35 |
| Population | |
• 2017 estimate
| 2,810,865[6](137th) |
• Density
| 43/km2(111.4/sq mi) (173rd) |
| GDP (PPP) | 2018 estimate |
• Total
| $96.261 billion[7] |
• Per capita
| $34,596[7] (41st) |
| GDP (nominal) | 2018 estimate |
• Total
| $54.352 billion |
• Per capita
| $19,534[8] (49th) |
| Gini (2015) |  37.9[9]medium |
| HDI (2015) |  0.848[10]very high · 37th |
| Currency | Euro (€) (EUR) |
| Time zone | EET (UTC+2) |
• Summer (DST)
| EEST (UTC+3) |
| Date format | yyyy-mm-dd (CE) |
| Drives on the | right |
| Calling code | +370 |
| ISO 3166 code | LT |
| Internet TLD | .lta |
Website
www | |
| |
Lithuania (/ˌlɪθjuˈeɪniə/ (
listen);[11] Lithuanian: Lietuva [lʲɪɛtʊˈvɐ]), officially the Republic of Lithuania (Lithuanian: Lietuvos Respublika), is a country in the Baltic region of northern-eastern Europe. One of the three Baltic states, it is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, to the east of Sweden and Denmark. It is bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, Poland to the south, and Kaliningrad Oblast (a Russian exclave) to the southwest. Lithuania has an estimated population of 2.8 million people as of 2017, and its capital and largest city is Vilnius. Lithuanians are a Baltic people. The official language, Lithuanian, along with Latvian, is one of only two living languages in the Baltic branch of the Indo-European language family.
listen);[11] Lithuanian: Lietuva [lʲɪɛtʊˈvɐ]), officially the Republic of Lithuania (Lithuanian: Lietuvos Respublika), is a country in the Baltic region of northern-eastern Europe. One of the three Baltic states, it is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, to the east of Sweden and Denmark. It is bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, Poland to the south, and Kaliningrad Oblast (a Russian exclave) to the southwest. Lithuania has an estimated population of 2.8 million people as of 2017, and its capital and largest city is Vilnius. Lithuanians are a Baltic people. The official language, Lithuanian, along with Latvian, is one of only two living languages in the Baltic branch of the Indo-European language family.
For centuries, the southeastern shores of the Baltic Sea were inhabited by various Baltic tribes. In the 1230s, the Lithuanian lands were united by Mindaugas, the King of Lithuania, and the first unified Lithuanian state, the Kingdom of Lithuania, was created on 6 July 1253. During the 14th century, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was the largest country in Europe; present-day Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, and parts of Poland and Russia were the territories of the Grand Duchy. With the Lublin Union of 1569, Lithuania and Poland formed a voluntary two-state union, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Commonwealth lasted more than two centuries, until neighboring countries systematically dismantled it from 1772 to 1795, with the Russian Empire annexing most of Lithuania's territory.
As World War I neared its end, Lithuania's Act of Independence was signed on 16 February 1918, declaring the founding of the modern Republic of Lithuania. In the midst of the Second World War, Lithuania was first occupied by the Soviet Union and then by Nazi Germany. As World War II neared its end and the Germans retreated, the Soviet Union reoccupied Lithuania. On 11 March 1990, a year before the formal dissolution of the Soviet Union, Lithuania became the first Baltic state to declare itself independent, resulting in the restoration of an independent State of Lithuania after 50 years of Soviet occupation.
Lithuania is a member of the European Union, the Council of Europe, a full member of the eurozone, Schengen Agreement, OECD and NATO. It is also a member of the Nordic Investment Bank, and part of Nordic-Baltic cooperation of Northern European countries. The United Nations Human Development Index lists Lithuania as a "very high human development" country.