Area 65,200 sq.km Total national border length: 1,732 km. Capital: Vilnius Length of Baltic coastline: 90.66 km. Population: 3,596,617 (July 2005) Borders with: Latvia ,Belarus, Poland, Russia
Languages Official language: Lithuanian Lithuanian is closely related to Latvian. More than 80% of the country's 3.8 million inhabitants speak Lithuanian as their first language. The Lithuanian language has two dialects: Aukštaičių (Aukštaitic, highland Lithuanian), Žemaičių/Žemaitiu (Samogitian, lowland Lithuanian).
Geography Lithuania lies on the edge of the East European Plain. Its landscape was shaped by the glaciers of the last Ice Age. The terrain of Lithuania is an alternation of temperate lowlands and highlands. The highest elevation is 297 meters above sea level, located in the eastern part of the republic and separated from the highlands of the western Zemaiciai region by the very fertile plains of the southwestern and central regions. The landscape is dotted with 2,833 lakes larger than one hectare and another 1,600 ponds smaller than one hectare. Most of the lakes are in the eastern part of the country. In addition, there are 758 rivers longer than ten kilometers in Lithuania. The largest river is the Nemunas (total length 917 km), which has its source in Belarus. The other major waterways are the Neris (510 km), Venta (346 km) and Sesupe (298 km) rivers. However, only 600 kilometers of Lithuanian rivers are navigable.
Nature Lithuania's countryside, while visually appealing, has modest resources. The area is rich in limestone, clay, silica sand, gypsum sand and dolomite suitable for the production of high quality cement, glass and ceramics. Oil was discovered in Lithuania in the 1950s, but few wells are operational in the western part of the country. Lithuania has five national parks (Aukštaitijos, Dzūkijos, Žemaitijos, Kuršių nerijos and Trakų) and 30 regional parks full of virgin forests and pristine marshes, home to protected wildlife and rare birds.