The territory of Lithuania is divided into 10 counties (Lithuanian: singular apskritis, plural apskritys), all named after their capitals. The counties are divided into 60 municipalities (Lithuanian: singular savivaldybė, plural savivaldybės): 9 city municipalities, 43 district municipalities and 8 municipalities. Each municipality is then divided into elderates (Lithuanian: singular seniūnija, plural seniūnijos). 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 in Vilnius. Their primary duty was to ensure that the municipalities obeyed the laws and the Constitution 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.
Modern apskritys should not be confused with apskritys that existed in the independent Lithuania during the interwar period. At that time Lithuania had a two-tier administrative division: apskritys that were subdivided into valsčiai. Modern apskritys 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). See subdivisions of Lithuania for details.
Map This map shows counties as well as municipalities. Eight city municipalities and two municipalities are marked by numbers: 1Vilnius City Municipality 2Kaunas City Municipality 3Klaipėda City Municipality4Panevėžys City Municipality 5Šiauliai City Municipality 6Alytus City Municipality7Birštonas Municipality 8Palanga City Municipality 9Visaginas Municipality 10Neringa Municipality
List # County(media help) Capital Areain km2 (rank) Population (2023)Pop. density(per km2) GDP (nominal)(billion EUR) GDP (per capita)(EUR) Average monthly gross salary(EUR) HDI(2021) Municipalities 1 Alytus County(listen • info) Alytus 5,418 (6) 135,367 25 1.6 11,500 1,582 0.841 Alytus Alytus (District) Druskininkai Lazdijai Varėna 2 Kaunas County(listen • info) Kaunas 8,086 (3) 580,333 70 11.6 20,400 1,930 0.882 Birštonas Jonava Kaišiadorys Kaunas Kaunas (District) Kėdainiai Prienai Raseiniai 3 Klaipėda County(listen • info) Klaipėda 5,222 (7) 336,104 61 6.0 18,400 1,802 0.876 Klaipėda Klaipėda (District) Kretinga Neringa Palanga Skuodas Šilutė 4 Marijampolė County(listen • info) Marijampolė 4,466 (8) 135,891 31 1.6 11,800 1,575 0.830 Kalvarija Kazlų Rūda Marijampolė Šakiai Vilkaviškis 5 Panevėžys County(listen • info) Panevėžys 7,878 (4) 211,652 27 3.0 14,100 1,638 0.847 Biržai Kupiškis Panevėžys Panevėžys (District) Pasvalys Rokiškis 6 Šiauliai County(listen • info) Šiauliai 8,537 (2) 261,764 31 3.9 15,000 1,649 0.847 Akmenė Joniškis Kelmė Pakruojis Radviliškis Šiauliai Šiauliai (District) 7 Tauragė County(listen • info) Tauragė 4,349 (9) 90,652 21 1.1 10,900 1,586 0.817 Jurbarkas Pagėgiai Šilalė Tauragė 8 Telšiai County(listen • info) Telšiai 4,350 (10) 131,431 30 1.8 13,500 1,724 0.847 Mažeikiai Plungė Rietavas Telšiai 9 Utena County(listen • info) Utena 7,191 (5) 125,462 18 1.4 11,200 1,548 0.831 Anykščiai Ignalina Molėtai Utena Visaginas Zarasai 10 Vilnius County(listen • info) Vilnius 9,730 (1) 851,346 84 24.2 29,800 2,191 0.913 Elektrėnai Šalčininkai Širvintos Švenčionys Trakai Ukmergė Vilnius Vilnius (District) Lithuania Vilnius 65,300 2,860,000 43 56.2 20,000 1,960 0.875
See also Administrative divisions of Lithuania Municipalities (Lithuanian: plural – savivaldybės, singular – savivaldybė) Elderships (or wards) (Lithuanian: plural – seniūnijos, singular – seniūnija). Seniūnaitija (sub-eldership) Cities (Lithuanian: plural – miestai, singular – miestas) Towns (Lithuanian: plural – miesteliai, singular – miestelis)
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