Lithuania

Geography

Location: Eastern Europe, bordering the Baltic Sea, between Latvia and Russia. Area: 65,200 sq. km. Principal cities: Vilnius, Kaunas and Klaipeda. Tourist attractions: Hill of Crosses, National Museum and Trakai Island Castle & History Museum. Time zone: GMT+2 hours.

People

Population: 3,575,439 (July 2007 est.). Population growth rate: -0.289%
(2007 est.). Sex ratio: 0.887 male(s)/ female (2007 est.). Religions: Roman Catholic (primarily), Lutheran, Russian Orthodox. Protestant, Evangelical Christian Baptist, Muslim, Jewish. Lan­guages: Lithuanian (official), Polish, Russian. Literacy rate: 99.6% (2003 est.). Infant mortality rate: 6.68 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.). Life expectancy: Total 74.44 years, Male 69.46 years, Female 79.69 years (2007 est.).

Government

Capital: Vilnius. National anthem: Tautiska Giesme. Government type:
Parliamentary democracy. Indepen­dence: I I March 1990—date of dec­laration of independence from Soviet Union. Legal system: Based on civil law system; legislative acts can be ap­pealed to the constitutional court. Ex­ecutive branch: Chief of state: President Valdas Adamkus (since 12 July 2004). Head of government: Premier Algirdas Mykolas Brazauskas (since 3 July 2001). Legislative branch: Lithuania has a unicameral parliament or Seimas with 141 seats. Judicial branch: Constitutional court; Supreme court; Court of appeal.

Economy

Currency: Litas. Currency conver­sion: Litas per Indian rupee—0.0626 (June 2007 est.). GDP: Purchasing power parity—$54.9 billion (2006 est.). GDP—real growth rate: 7.5% (2006 est.). GDP—per capita: Purchasing power parity—$15,300 (2006 est.). Inflation rate; 3.8% (2006 est.). Ex­ports: $14.64 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.). Imports: $18.25 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.). External debt: $15.12 billion (2006 est.).

Transport and Communications

Railways: 1,998 km. Roads: 77,148 km. Airports: Vilnius and Siauliai Inter­national Airports. Telephones: 824,200 (2003). Mobile cellular: 2,169,900 (20Q3). Internet users: 695,700 (2003). Internet country code: .It. ISD code: 370.