 |
|---|
 |
Legislature |
 |
| Administrative divisions of Lithuania |
|---|
| Counties Municipalities Elderships Sub-elderships |
| Geocodes of Lithuania |
 Lithuania portal |
The territory ofLithuania is divided into10 counties (Lithuanian: singularapskritis, pluralapskritys), all named after their capitals. The counties are divided into60 municipalities (Lithuanian: singularsavivaldybė, pluralsavivaldybės): 9 city municipalities, 43 district municipalities and 8 municipalities. Each municipality is then divided intoelderates (Lithuanian: singularseniūnija, pluralseniūnijos). This division was created in 1994 and slightly modified in 2000.
Until 2010, the counties were administered by county governors (Lithuanian: singular –apskrities viršininkas, plural –apskrities viršininkai) appointed by the central government inVilnius. Their primary duty was to ensure that the municipalities obeyed the laws and theConstitution of Lithuania. They did not have great powers vested in them, and so it was suggested that 10 counties were too much for Lithuania as the two smallest counties administered only four municipalities. Therefore, on 1 July 2010, the county administrations were abolished, but the counties themselves are retained for statistical and reporting purposes.[1]
Modernapskritys should not be confused withapskritys that existed in the independent Lithuania during theinterwar period. At that time Lithuania had a two-tier administrative division:apskritys that were subdivided intovalsčiai. Modernapskritys remain only a territorial and statistical unit, while the top-tier administrative division are the municipalities (savivaldybės), followed by elderships (seniūnijos), and sub-elderships in some areas (seniūnaitijos). Seesubdivisions of Lithuania for details.
This map shows counties as well as municipalities. Eight city municipalities and two municipalities are marked by numbers:
| # | County (media help) | Capital | Area in km2 (rank) | Population (2023)[2] | Pop. density (per km2) | GDP (nominal) (billionEUR)[3] | GDP (per capita) (EUR) | Average monthly gross salary (EUR)[4] | HDI (2021) [5] | Municipalities |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alytus County (listen •info)  | Alytus | 5,418 (6) | 135,367 | 25 | 1.6 | 11,500 | 1,582 | 0.841 | |
| 2 | Kaunas County (listen •info)  | Kaunas | 8,086 (3) | 580,333 | 70 | 11.6 | 20,400 | 1,930 | 0.882 | |
| 3 | Klaipėda County (listen •info)  | Klaipėda | 5,222 (7) | 336,104 | 61 | 6.0 | 18,400 | 1,802 | 0.876 | |
| 4 | Marijampolė County (listen •info)  | Marijampolė | 4,466 (8) | 135,891 | 31 | 1.6 | 11,800 | 1,575 | 0.830 | |
| 5 | Panevėžys County (listen •info)  | Panevėžys | 7,878 (4) | 211,652 | 27 | 3.0 | 14,100 | 1,638 | 0.847 | |
| 6 | Šiauliai County (listen •info)  | Šiauliai | 8,537 (2) | 261,764 | 31 | 3.9 | 15,000 | 1,649 | 0.847 | |
| 7 | Tauragė County (listen •info)  | Tauragė | 4,349 (9) | 90,652 | 21 | 1.1 | 10,900 | 1,586 | 0.817 | |
| 8 | Telšiai County (listen •info)  | Telšiai | 4,350 (10) | 131,431 | 30 | 1.8 | 13,500 | 1,724 | 0.847 | |
| 9 | Utena County (listen •info)  | Utena | 7,191 (5) | 125,462 | 18 | 1.4 | 11,200 | 1,548 | 0.831 | |
| 10 | Vilnius County (listen •info)  | Vilnius | 9,730 (1) | 851,346 | 84 | 24.2 | 29,800 | 2,191 | 0.913 | |
| Lithuania | Vilnius | 65,300 | 2,860,000 | 43 | 56.2 | 20,000 | 1,960 | 0.875 |
