Republic of Lithuania
Northern Europe
Baltic · Baroque · Amber
Lithuania (officially Republic of Lithuania) is a country located in Northern Europe. Its capital city is Vilnius, with other major cities including Kaunas and Klaipėda. With a population of approximately 2.8M, the main language spoken is Lithuanian. The country covers an area of 65,300 km². The official currency is the euro (€). Traffic drives on the right side.
Lithuanian is considered the most archaic surviving Indo-European language — linguists study it to understand ancient Sanskrit and Latin, because it preserves grammatical features lost in all other modern European languages.
Vilnius serves as the political, cultural and economic heart of Lithuania, positioned in Northern Europe. As the seat of government and often the most populous city, it concentrates the country's main institutions, universities and cultural landmarks. Beyond the capital, major cities include Kaunas, Klaipėda, Šiauliai — each a hub of regional culture, economy and history. Vilnius has one of Europe's largest surviving baroque old towns — a UNESCO World Heritage Site of winding streets, baroque churches, and the reconstructed Gediminas Castle overlooking a city that was 40% Jewish before the Holocaust, with the Vilna Gaon of Vilnius (Elijah ben Solomon) making the city one of European Judaism's great intellectual centres before its near-total destruction in 1941-1944.
With a population of approximately 2.8M, Lithuania is a vibrant society with a rich mix of traditions and communities. The official language is Lithuanian, which reflects the country's cultural heritage and connects it with a wide international community. Internationally, Lithuania is reached via the dialling code +370. Lithuanians are the last pagan people of Europe to convert to Christianity — baptism in 1387 making Lithuania the final European nation to formally adopt Christianity — and the persistent folk tradition of the Romuva religion, with its sacred oak groves and seasonal ritual calendar, continues as a contemporary spiritual movement alongside mainstream Catholicism.
Lithuania spans 65,300 km², in the Northern Europe subregion of Europe. Geographically centred around 56.0°N, 24.0°E, the country offers a diverse range of landscapes shaped by its location, climate and geology. Road traffic follows the right-hand rule, in line with surrounding Europe convention.
The official currency is the euro (€), used for everyday transactions and commerce throughout the country. Lithuania's economy is shaped by its geography, natural resources and trade relationships. Business and daily life operate under UTC+02:00, aligning the country with its regional neighbours.
Basketball / Football holds a special place in the heart of Lithuania's national identity. Basketball is Lithuania's second religion after Catholicism, with the Soviet-era team that formed the core of the USSR Olympic champions going on to represent independent Lithuania in 1992 Barcelona and winning bronze — a story so compelling that the Grateful Dead funded their national uniforms and the game that restored national dignity in sport before the economy recovered.
The highest point in Lithuania is Aukštojas Hill, rising to 294 metres above sea level. The Curonian Spit — a 98-kilometre sand dune peninsula shared with Russia's Kaliningrad exclave — is a UNESCO World Heritage landscape of migrating dunes, pine forests planted to stabilise shifting sand over 300 years, and Baltic Sea lagoon on one side facing the open Baltic coast on the other, home to one of Europe's largest autumn bird migration watching points.