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Facts about Lithuania:
Area: 65 300 sq. km.
Geographical situation: Lithuania is a country located in the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea. In 1989, French National Geography Institute determined that Lithuania is the geographic centre of Europe.
Neighbor countries: Latvia, Belarus, Poland, Russia.
Climate ranges between maritime and continental. The average temperatures are +23°C in July and -4.9°C in January.
Relief: Lithuania is the country of flatlands comprising approx. 75 % of the total territory of the country.
Language: the official language of the Republic of Lithuania – Lithuanian language
Population: 3 394 000.
Capital: Vilnius.
Political system: parliamentary democracy. Head of state – the President, executive power – the Government (appointed by the President), legislative power – the Seimas.
State division: the territory of Lithuania is divided into 10 counties. The country consists of 60 municipalities that are subdivided into 546 elderates.
The largest cities according to the population include Vilnius (553 200), Kaunas (373 700), Klaipėda (191 600), Šiauliai (132 700) and Panevėžys (118 800).
Ethnic composition: Lithuanians – 83.5 %, Poles – 6.7 %, Russians – 6.3 %, Belarusians – 1.2 %. The representatives of other ethnic groups comprise 2.3 % of the total number of Lithuanian inhabitants. Representatives of 115 nations live in Lithuania.
Religion: Roman Catholic. The country also has minority communities of Protestantism, Evangelical-Lutheran, Evangelical-Reformats, Old Believers, Judaism, Islam, etc.
Lifespan: Average lifespan in Lithuania is 71 (men- 66, women - 77).
National currency: Litas (Lt). 3.4528 Lt = 1 Euro
Independence:
- declared on February 16, 1918.
- reestablished on March 11, 1990.
Lithuania became the member of the NATO on March 29, 2004 and the EU on May 1, 2004.
Public festivals:
January 1st – New Year
February 16th – Independence Day (1918)
March 11th – Independence Reestablishment Day (1990)
Easter (Sunday and Easter Monday)
May 1st – Labour Day
June 24th – Midsummer (Saint Jonas’ festival)
July 6th – Mindaugas Coronation Day
August 15th – Feast of Assumption of Virgin Mary
November 1st – All Saints Day
December 25th and 26th – Christmas
Short summary of Lithuanian taxes:
VAT – 21 %
Corporation tax – 20 %
Dividend tax – 20 % + 6 % = 26 %
Compulsory heath insurance – 6 %
Real estate tax – 1 %
Wage taxes:
Social insurance (of employee) – 3 %
Social insurance (of employer) – 30.98 %
Citizen income tax – 15 %
Compulsory health insurance – 6 %
Guarantee fund income – 0.1 %
Other taxes:
Environmental pollution tax;
Packaging tax;
Advance corporation tax;
Tax for state natural resources;
Etc.
Minimum wage (Tax included) - – 800 LTL (~232 Eur)
Average wage (according to Department of Statistics): 2200 LTL (~637 Eur) (2008 data).
Direct foreign investment
According to the Department of Statistics, the preliminary data show that on January 1st, 2009, direct foreign investment amounted for 31.48 billion LTL and was 11.3 % less than that registered on January 1st, 2008 (25.50 billion LTL). Direct foreign investment per capita - 9.4 thousand LTL (10.5 thousand LTL on January 1st, 2008).
The highest investment was made by Sweden investors – 5.30 billion LTL (16.8 % of total direct foreign investment); German – 3.17 billion LTL (10.1 %), Danish – 2.75 billion LTL (8.7 %), Estonian – 2.40 billion LTL (7.6 %), Dutch – 2.11 billion LTL (6.7 %), Latvian – 1,95 billion LTL (6.2 %).
Direct investment from 27 EU countries amounted for 25.57 billion LTL (81.2 %) and 1.85 billion LTL (5.9 %) from CIS.
According to data of January 1st, 2009, the highest investment was directed to manufacturing industry (23.3 %), real estate, rent and other business companies (16.3 %), financial mediation (15.6 %), transport, storage and communications (14.4 %), wholesale and retail sale (14.1 %), electricity, gas and water supply (7.5 %). In 2008, investment increase was noticed in real estate, rent and other business activity, agriculture, forestry, fishery, hotel and restaurant as well as construction area.
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