Capital: Vilnius

Principal Cities

Population:
3,596,617 (July 2005 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 16.1% (male 297,271/female 282,269)
15-64 years: 68.7% (male 1,206,731/female 1,264,359)
65 years and over: 15.2% (male 186,979/female 359,008) (2005 est.)

Median age:
total: 37.83 years
male: 35.25 years
female: 40.46 years (2005 est.)

Population growth rate:
-0.3% (2005 est.)

Birth rate:
8.62 births/1,000 population (2005 est.)

Death rate:
10.92 deaths/1,000 population (2005 est.)

Net migration rate:
-0.71 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2005 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.95 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.52 male(s)/female
total population: 0.89 male(s)/female (2005 est.)

Infant mortality rate:
total: 6.89 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 8.25 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 5.45 deaths/1,000 live births (2005 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 73.97 years
male: 68.94 years
female: 79.28 years (2005 est.)

Total fertility rate:
1.19 children born/woman (2005 est.)

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:
0.1% (2001 est.)

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:
1,300 (2003 est.)

HIV/AIDS - deaths:
less than 200 (2003 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Lithuanian(s)
adjective: Lithuanian

Ethnic groups:
Lithuanian 83.4%, Polish 6.7%, Russian 6.3%, other or unspecified 3.6% (2001 census)

Religions:
Roman Catholic 79%, Russian Orthodox 4.1%, Protestant (including Lutheran and Evangelical Christian Baptist) 1.9%, other or unspecified 5.5%, none 9.5% (2001 census)

Languages:
Lithuanian (official) 82%, Russian 8%, Polish 5.6%, other and unspecified 4.4% (2001 census)

Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 99.6%
male: 99.7%
female: 99.6% (2003 est.)

Background:
Independent between the two World Wars, Lithuania was annexed by the USSR in 1940. On 11 March 1990, Lithuania became the first of the Soviet republics to declare its independence, but Moscow did not recognize this proclamation until September of 1991 (following the abortive coup in Moscow). The last Russian troops withdrew in 1993. Lithuania subsequently restructured its economy for integration into Western European institutions; it joined both NATO and the EU in the spring of 2004.