Working Life Barometer in the Baltic Countries 2002 (pdf) - mol.fi

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The main legal act is the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania adopted
on 25 October 1992.
GEOGRAPHIC SITUATION
Lithuania forms part of the eastern cost of the Baltic Sea and lies in the South
of Latvia. The surface area of Lithuania is 65.3 thousand km 2 . It has frontiers
with Latvia to the North (610 km), Byelorussia to the South – East (660 km),
Poland to the South – West (103 km) and Kaliningrad region of Russia to the
West (295 km). The total length of frontiers is 1743 km, the length of the
Baltic cost line of which is 99 km.
The countryside of Lithuania’s is lowland plains and hilly uplands. 60.4
percent of the territory is agricultural land, 30.3 percent is land for forestry.
More than 2.8 thousand lakes occupy 1.5 percent of the territory. 722 rivers
run through the region. The climate is midway between maritime and
continental. The Baltic Sea coastline is used for recreation and nature
preservation.
Lithuania’s territory is divided into 10 counties, which are the main
administrative units. There are Alytus, Kaunas, Klaipeda, Marijampole,
Panevezys, Siauliai, Taurage, Telsiai, Utena, and Vilnius counties. They are
divided into smaller units – municipalities, total number of which is 60. The
capital city of Lithuania is Vilnius, founded in 1323. It is located in the South
– East of the country, on the river Neris side, and has a population of 542
thousand. Other cities are smaller and only 4 of them have the population of
more than 100 thousand. These are Kaunas (population 379 thousand),
Klaipeda (population 193 thousand), Siauliai (population 134 thousand), and
Panevezys (population 120 thousand).
The geographical centre of the Europe, Purnuskis, lies in Lithuania 27 km
north of Lithuania’s capital Vilnius. Approximately 100 km North – East from
Vilnius there is Ignalina – the countries own nuclear power station. It is
planned that the first block of the nuclear power station will be stopped in
2005, and the second one in 2009.