Lithuania
LITHUANIA
Some facts:
Official name – The Republic of Lithuania
Highest body of power – Supreme Council
System – Parliamentary republic
Capital – Vilnius
Borders:
with Latvia – 610 km
with Byelorussia – 724 km
with Poland – 110 km
with Russia (Kaliningrad region) – 303 km
sea border (Baltic Sea) – 99 km
Lithuania’s area – 65,2 sq.km
Longest distances:
from the East to the West – 373 km
from the North to the South – 276 km
Population – 3,723 thousand
Density population – 57,1 per square km
68,5% of the entire population resides in towns.
Major towns:
Vilnius – 600.000
Kaunas – 430.000
Klaipeda – 210.000
Fields and meadows – 57%
Forests and bushes – 30%
Swamps -3%
Inland waters – 4%
Other land – 6%
Relief: ¾ of the territory consists of low-lying plains
Highest hill – 293 m above sea level
Largest river – the Nemunas -937 km, of which 475 km in Lithuania. 71,6% of Lithuania’s territory belongs to the Nemunas’s basin.
Largest lake – 44,8 sq. km – Drūkšiai.
Total number of lakes larger than 0,5 hectare is
2833 ( 1,5% Lithuania’s territory)
The protected natural area – 327 thousand hectares
( 5% of Lithuania’s territory)
The climate is that of the middle latitudes, changing from the maritime to the continental. The mean yearly
temperature +6° C ( average for January being -5° C,
average July +17° C ). During the last 50 years the lowest registered temperature was -43° C in 1956, and the highest (+37° C) in 1979. Thus, the seasons are differentiated quite distincly in Lithuania – cold and snowy winters and warm and sunny summers.
Lithuania lies on the road between East Europe and West Europe, as the straightest road from Germany to Russia crosses Lithuania. Thus, the great German assault to the East, as well as that of the Russians to the West, used to be carried out through Lithu-