__NOTOC__ Lithuania is divided into two levels of administrative divisions. The first-level division consists of 60 municipalities (Lithuanian: singular – savivaldybė, plural – savivaldybės), which are further sub-divided into over 500 smaller units, known as elderships (Lithuanian: plural – seniūnijos, singular – seniūnija). For statistical and reporting purposes, municipalities are grouped into 10 counties (Lithuanian: singular – apskritis, plural – apskritys).
At the end of its tenure as a Soviet Socialist Republic, Lithuania's administrative divisions consisted of 44 regions, 12 cities, 80 towns, 19 settlements, and 426 rural districts. The reform of this system was an immediate concern for the new government. The Constitution of Lithuania, ratified in 1992, delegated the power of establishing future administrative units to the Lithuanian Parliament (Seimas). Accordingly, the Seimas passed two fundamental laws: a 1993 law on government representation and a 1994 law specifying the territorial-administrative units and their boundaries. The current system of a set of municipalities under 10 counties was codified by 1995. Several changes were made in 2000, resulting in 60 municipalities.
Ordinary municipal councilors are elected every four years from electoral lists using proportional representation. The mayor, who used to be a member of the council until 2023, is elected directly by the residents using the two-round system since 2015 reforms. Before then, the mayors were elected by the municipal councils.
The largest municipality by population in Lithuania is Vilnius City Municipality with 593,436 residents, home to one fifth () of the country's population. The smallest municipality by population is Neringa Municipality with 4,173 () residents.
The largest municipality by land area is Varėna District Municipality, which spans , while the smallest is Alytus City Municipality at .
Powers and functions Municipalities are established to perform certain functions provided by law. According to the abovementioned Republic of Lithuania Law on Local Self-Government, the functions of municipalities are "functions related to local government, public administration and provision of public services defined by the Constitution and attributed to municipalities by this and other laws". The processes of integration into international organizations - like the EU and NATO - are considered to be important external factors influencing the development of municipal powers in the country. Lithuania, which has become a member of these organizations, has been assigned completely new responsibilities, some of which, naturally, also belonged to municipalities. In the case of EU integration, municipalities have been assigned the necessary information supply to the European Commission, and in the case of integration into NATO, municipalities have had new functions related to security issues.
1 – Vilnius City Municipality 2 – Kaunas City Municipality 3 – Klaipėda City Municipality4 – Panevėžys City Municipality 5 – Šiauliai City Municipality 6 – Alytus City Municipality7 – Birštonas Municipality 8 – Palanga City Municipality 9 – Visaginas Municipality 10 – Neringa Municipality
Municipalities As of January 1, 2024.
Municipality CapitalMunicipality administrative centers and coats of arms are given by Statistics Lithuania in subpages under the Portrait of the Regions of Lithuania; e.g. Alytus town municipality . County Region Area Populations Density Akmenė District Municipality Naujoji Akmenė Šiauliai Žemaitija 19,126 Alytus City Municipality Alytus Alytus Dzūkija 51,351 Alytus District Municipality Alytus Alytus Dzūkija 25,464 Anykščiai District Municipality Anykščiai Utena Aukštaitija 22,372 Birštonas Municipality Birštonas Kaunas Dzūkija 4,087 Biržai District Municipality Biržai Panevėžys Aukštaitija 22,111 Druskininkai Municipality Druskininkai Alytus Dzūkija 20,103 Elektrėnai Municipality Elektrėnai Vilnius Dzūkija 24,745 Ignalina District Municipality Ignalina Utena Aukštaitija 13,814 Jonava District Municipality Jonava Kaunas Aukštaitija 41,489 Joniškis District Municipality Joniškis Šiauliai Aukštaitija 20,289 Jurbarkas District Municipality Jurbarkas Tauragė Žemaitija 25,443 Kaišiadorys District Municipality Kaišiadorys Kaunas Aukštaitija 29,062 Kalvarija Municipality Kalvarija Marijampolė Suvalkija 9,734 Kaunas City Municipality Kaunas Kaunas Aukštaitija 304,198 Kaunas District Municipality Kaunas Kaunas Aukštaitija 106,277 Kazlų Rūda Municipality Kazlų Rūda Marijampolė Suvalkija 10,835 Kėdainiai District Municipality Kėdainiai Kaunas Aukštaitija 45,923 Kelmė District Municipality Kelmė Šiauliai Žemaitija 24,347 Klaipėda City Municipality Klaipėda Klaipėda Prūsija 159,396 Klaipėda District Municipality Klaipėda Klaipėda Prūsija 67,280 Kretinga District Municipality Kretinga Klaipėda Žemaitija 37,433 Kupiškis District Municipality Kupiškis Panevėžys Aukštaitija 15,765 Lazdijai District Municipality Lazdijai Alytus Dzūkija 17,201 Marijampolė Municipality Marijampolė Marijampolė Suvalkija 54,590 Mažeikiai District Municipality Mažeikiai Telšiai Žemaitija 51,909 Molėtai District Municipality Molėtai Utena Aukštaitija 16,517 Neringa Municipality Nida Klaipėda Prūsija 4,265 Pagėgiai Municipality Pagėgiai Tauragė Prūsija 7,059 Pakruojis District Municipality Pakruojis Šiauliai Aukštaitija 17,870 Palanga City Municipality Palanga Klaipėda Žemaitija 18,066 Panevėžys City Municipality Panevėžys Panevėžys Aukštaitija 86,599 Panevėžys District Municipality Panevėžys Panevėžys Aukštaitija 35,378 Pasvalys District Municipality Pasvalys Panevėžys Aukštaitija 21,930 Plungė District Municipality Plungė Telšiai Žemaitija 33,042 Prienai District Municipality Prienai Kaunas Suvalkija 24,675 Radviliškis District Municipality Radviliškis Šiauliai Aukštaitija 34,302 Raseiniai District Municipality Raseiniai Kaunas Žemaitija 29,769 Rietavas Municipality Rietavas Telšiai Žemaitija 7,115 Rokiškis District Municipality Rokiškis Panevėžys Aukštaitija 27,288 Skuodas District Municipality Skuodas Klaipėda Žemaitija 15,201 Šakiai District Municipality Šakiai Marijampolė Suvalkija 25,603 Šalčininkai District Municipality Šalčininkai Vilnius Dzūkija 29,888 Šiauliai City Municipality Šiauliai Šiauliai Žemaitija 110,461 Šiauliai District Municipality Šiauliai Šiauliai Žemaitija 40,565 Šilalė District Municipality Šilalė Tauragė Žemaitija 20,861 Šilutė District Municipality Šilutė Klaipėda Prūsija 38,331 Širvintos District Municipality Širvintos Vilnius Aukštaitija 14,668 Švenčionys District Municipality Švenčionys Vilnius Aukštaitija 21,795 Tauragė District Municipality Tauragė Tauragė Žemaitija 37,215 Telšiai District Municipality Telšiai Telšiai Žemaitija 38,852 Trakai District Municipality Trakai Vilnius Dzūkija 34,595 Ukmergė District Municipality Ukmergė Vilnius Aukštaitija 34,023 Utena District Municipality Utena Utena Aukštaitija 39,671 Varėna District Municipality Varėna Alytus Dzūkija 20,082 Vilkaviškis District Municipality Vilkaviškis Marijampolė Suvalkija 33,906 Vilnius City Municipality Vilnius Vilnius Dzūkija 602,430 Vilnius District Municipality Vilnius Vilnius Dzūkija 106,197 Visaginas Municipality Visaginas Utena Aukštaitija 19,584 Zarasai District Municipality Zarasai Utena Aukštaitija 14,368
See also ISO 3166-2:LT
Administrative divisions of Lithuania Counties (Lithuanian: singular – apskritis, plural – apskritys) Elderships (Lithuanian: plural – seniūnijos, singular – seniūnija). Seniūnaitija (sub-eldership) Cities (Lithuanian: plural – miestai, singular – miestas) Towns (Lithuanian: plural – miesteliai, singular – miestelis)
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