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Lithuania

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Physical Map of Lithuania

Lithuania lies at the edge of the North European Plain. Its landscape was smoothed by the glaciers of the last ice age, and is a combination of moderate lowlands and highlands. Its highest point is Aukštojas Hill at 294 metres (965 ft) in the eastern part of the country. The terrain features numerous lakes (Lake Vištytis, for example) and wetlands, and a mixed forest zone covers over 33% of the country. Drūkšiai is the largest, Tauragnas is the deepest and Asveja is the longest lake in Lithuania.

Economy:

Lithuania has open and mixed economy that is classified as high-income economy by the World Bank. According to data from 2016, the three largest sectors in Lithuanian economy are – services (68.3% of GDP), industry (28.5%) and agriculture (3.3%). World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report ranks Lithuania 41st (of 137 ranked countries).

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Lithuanian Litas

Lithuania joined NATO in 2004, EU in 2004, Schengen in 2007 and OECD in 2018.

On 1 January 2015, euro became the national currency replacing litas at the rate of EUR 1.00 = LTL 3.45280.

Lithuanian GDP experienced very high real growth rates for decade up to 2009, peaking at 11.1% in 2007. As a result, the country was often termed as a Baltic Tiger. However, in 2009 due to a global financial crisis marked experienced a drastic decline – GDP contracted by 14.9% and unemployment rate reached 17.8% in 2010. After the decline of 2009, Lithuanian annual economic growth has been much slower compared to pre-2009 years.

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Treemap of Lithuania’s Exports

In the period between 2004 and 2016, one out of five Lithuanians left the country, mostly because of insufficient income situation or seeking the new experience and studies abroad. Long term emigration and economy growth has resulted in noticeable shortages on the labor market and growth in salaries being larger than growth in labor efficiency.

As of 2019, Lithuanian mean wealth per adult is $50,254, while total national wealth is $115 billion. As of 2020, the average gross (pre-tax) monthly salary in Lithuania is 1,399 euros translating to 889 euros net (after tax), while average pension is around 400 euros per month.

Transportation:

Lithuanian Railways’ main network consists of 1,762 km (1,095 mi) of 1,520 mm (4 ft 11.8 in) Russian gauge railway of which 122 km (76 mi) are electrified.

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Rail Map of Lithuania

This railway network is incompatible with European standard gauge and requires train switching. However, Lithuanian railway network also has 115 km (71 mi) of standard gauge lines. More than half of all inland freight transported in Lithuania is carried by rail. The Trans-European standard gauge Rail Baltica railway, linking HelsinkiTallinnRigaKaunas–Warsaw and continuing on to Berlin is under construction.

Lithuania has an extensive network of motorways.

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Road Map of Lithuania

The Port of Klaipėda is the only commercial cargo port in Lithuania. In 2011 45.5 million tons of cargo were handled (including Būtingė oil terminal figures).

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