Lithuania

Abstract

Located on the Baltic Sea, at the gateway between the European Union (EU) and the CIS, Lithuania is the largest of the three Baltic State (65,300 sq km). It has common borders with Latvia (453 km) in the northwest, Russia-Kaliningrad (227 km) in the south, Belarus (502 km) in the east and southeast, Poland (91 km) in the south, and the Baltic Sea (99 km) in the west. Most of the countryside consists of lowland plains, with numerous small lakes in the eastern part of the country, and hilly uplands. The highest point is Juozapines Hill, near Vilnius, at 294 metres. Woodlands cover about a quarter of Lithuania, and more than half of the coast is sheltered by a sandbar that is about 100 km long and less than 4 km wide, known as the Curonian Spit National Park. Lithuania also has over 700 rivers, the longest of which are the Nemunas, Neris and the Venta. Five areas of wetlands (Cepkeliai, Kamanos, Nemunas Delta, Viesvile and Zuvintas) are designated protected areas. The climate is transitional between maritime and continental, with wet and moderate winters and summers. The average daytime temperature is -5 °C (23 °F) in January and 23 °C (80 °F) in July.