Lithuania

Lithuania is a country in the north of Europe.

The Baltic Sea is on one side. It has thousands of lakes and green forests. The capital city is Vilnius.

Lithuania is a country in northeastern Europe, the biggest and farthest south of the three Baltic states. The Baltic Sea is to the west, Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, and Poland and a part of Russia called Kaliningrad to the southwest.

Most of Lithuania is low and gently rolling, with about 3,000 lakes, slow rivers and forests. Its capital is Vilnius. About 2.89 million people lived in Lithuania in 2025.

Lithuania covers about 65,300 square kilometers between Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, Poland and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad to the southwest, and the Baltic Sea to the west. Britannica describes its terrain as a low plain scraped by Ice Age glaciers, which left thick ridges of debris called moraines.

The World Bank estimated the population at 2,888,774 in 2025. Ethnic Lithuanians make up more than four-fifths of it, with Russian and Polish minorities and smaller numbers of Belarusians, Ukrainians, Latvians, Tatars and Roma. Vilnius has been the capital since at least 1323, when it is first mentioned in writing.

Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania.

Its old streets are small and twisty. It has old churches and a town hall. On the coast, a long strip of sand has giant dunes.

Vilnius has been the capital since at least 1323. Its Old Town is a World Heritage Site: its small medieval streets spread out from a castle hill where two rivers, the Neris and the Vilnia, meet, and buildings from many styles stand side by side.

On the coast is the Curonian Spit, a thin strip of sand dunes and forest 98 kilometers long, shared with Russia. About 35 kilometers from Vilnius, Kernavė is an archaeological site where people lived for about 10,000 years, with five big hill forts.

UNESCO inscribed the Vilnius Historic Centre in 1994. A wooden castle stood on Gediminas Hill, where the Neris and Vilnia rivers meet, around 1000 CE; by 1323, when Vilnius is first mentioned in writing, it was the capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Its circular medieval plan radiates from the castle site, and its Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque and Classical buildings include the cathedral, town hall and a 16th-century university ensemble.

The Curonian Spit (inscribed 2000), shared with Russia, is a dune peninsula 98 km long and 0.4 to 3.8 km wide that formed about 5,000 years ago; heavy logging in the 17th and 18th centuries set the dunes moving, and stabilization work has continued since about 1800. Kernavė (inscribed 2004), 35 km northwest of Vilnius in the Neris valley, holds evidence of settlement from the 9th or 8th millennium BCE to the Middle Ages, including five 13th-century hill forts.

Long ago, thick ice covered Lithuania.

The ice left gentle hills and many lakes. About 3,000 lakes shine in the land. Sandy dunes line the seaside.

Glaciers, huge sheets of ice, scraped Lithuania into a low plain and left ridges of rock and soil behind. In the east and southeast are small hills and lots of lakes: about 3,000 in all. Slow, winding rivers flow to the Baltic Sea, and the biggest is the Nemunas.

About a third of the country is forest, with pines near the coast, spruces in the hilly east and oaks and birches in the middle. Winters are cold, about -5 °C in January, and July averages about 17 °C. The highest hill, Aukštojas, is only about 294 meters high.

Lithuania is mostly a low-lying plain with glacial moraines. The Middle Lithuanian Lowland of glacial lake clays and boulder-studded loams runs north to south, in places waterlogged; the Baltic Highlands to the east and southeast carry many small hills and lakes, about 3,000 lakes in all. The highest point is Aukštojas Hill, 293.84 m according to Vilnius District Municipality; Britannica still names Juozapinė Hill (292 m).

Rivers are slow lowland rivers draining to the Baltic; the Neman (Nemunas) is the largest. The climate is transitional between maritime and continental, with damp Atlantic air most common; January averages about -5 °C, July about 17 °C, and annual rainfall usually exceeds about 800 mm. About one-third of the land is forest and another fifth meadow; on the coast, sand dunes and the Curonian Lagoon, almost cut off from the sea by the Curonian Spit, form a distinctive landscape.

White storks live in Lithuania.

Wolves, foxes and wild boars live here. Beavers live deep in the forests. Swans and herons live here too.

Lithuania has many kinds of mammals. Wolves, foxes, otters, badgers and wild boars live there, and the deep forests hold elk (the animal Americans call a moose), deer and beavers.

Hundreds of kinds of birds live in Lithuania, including white storks, ducks, geese, swans, herons and hawks. UNESCO lists a bird migration path among the natural treasures of the Curonian Spit.

Britannica describes Lithuania's wildlife as very diverse: wolves, foxes, otters, badgers, ermine, wild boars and many rodents, with elk (Alces alces), stags and other deer, beavers and mink in the deep forests. Hundreds of bird species occur, including white storks, ducks, geese, swans, cormorants, herons and hawks, and many kinds of grouse and partridge.

UNESCO lists a bird migration path among the natural values of the Curonian Spit, along with ancient forests, mountain pine stands and specialized sand plants and animals. Britannica notes that swamps and marshes now make up only a small share of the land, while forest covers about a third of it.

About 2.89 million people live in Lithuania.

Most speak Lithuanian. Some speak Russian or Polish too. Many people sing at big festivals. Potato dumplings are the national dish.

Most people in Lithuania speak Lithuanian, the official language. It belongs to the Baltic group of languages. Russian, Polish, Belarusian and Ukrainian are also spoken, especially in bigger cities.

Song festivals are a big tradition: Lithuania held its first song celebration in 1924, and now one takes place every four years, with thousands of singers and dancers. The national dish is cepelinai, potato dumplings stuffed with meat, curd cheese or mushrooms.

More than four-fifths of residents are ethnic Lithuanians. Lithuanian, the official language, belongs to the Baltic group of Indo-European languages; Russian, Polish, Belarusian and Ukrainian are spoken in the larger cities, and Yiddish by the small remaining Jewish community. Before World War II the Jewish community was large; Britannica records that by 1944 most of it had been murdered, deported or sent to concentration camps in the Holocaust. About four-fifths of the population is Roman Catholic.

UNESCO lists the Baltic Song and Dance Celebrations: Lithuania's first was held in 1924, it now takes place every fourth year (the 2024 celebration was in Vilnius and Kaunas), and performers come mostly from amateur choirs and dance groups. The national dish, cepelinai, are dumplings of grated and riced potato filled with ground meat, dry curd cheese or mushrooms; the official tourism site says they are now more often eaten in restaurants than at home.