Counties of Lithuania
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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). Such division was created in 1994 and slightly modified in 2000.
Counties are ruled by governors (Lithuanian: singular - apskrities viršininkas, plural - apskrities viršininkai) who are appointed by the central government in Vilnius. Their primary duty is to ensure that the municipalities obey the laws and the constitution of Lithuania. They do not have great powers vested in them, and so it is suggested that 10 counties are too much for Lithuania as the two smallest counties contain only 4 municipalities. It is proposed to replace the counties with 4 or 5 lands, a new administrative unit, that would be decided according to the ethnographic regions of Lithuania and based on the 5 major cities with the population more than 100,000.
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-step administrative division: apskritys that were subdivided into valsčius. Lithuania now has a three-step division: counties, municipalities, and elderates (apkritys, savivaldybės, and seniūnijos). See subdivisions of Lithuania for details.
List
| # | County ([media helpmedia help]) | Capital | Area in km² (rank) | Population in 2001 (rank) | Population per km² (rank) | Municipalities | Number of elderates |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alytus County ([listen] • [info]) 
| Alytus | 5,425 (6) | 188,000 (7) | 34.7 (8) | 35
| |
| 2 | Kaunas County ([listen] • [info]) 
| Kaunas | 8,060 (3) | 702,100 (2) | 87.1 (2) | 88
| |
| 3 | Klaipėda County ([listen] • [info]) 
| Klaipėda | 5,209 (7) | 386,100 (3) | 74.1 (3) | 43
| |
| 4 | Marijampolė County ([listen] • [info]) 
| Marijampolė | 4,463 (8) | 188,800 (6) | 42.3 (5) | 40
| |
| 5 | Panevėžys County ([listen] • [info]) 
| Panevėžys | 7,881 (4) | 300,300 (5) | 38.1 (7) | 46
| |
| 6 | Šiauliai County ([listen] • [info]) 
| Šiauliai | 8,540 (2) | 370,400 (4) | 43.4 (4) | 61
| |
| 7 | Tauragė County ([listen] • [info]) 
| Tauragė | 4,411 (9) | 134,300 (10) | 30.4 (9) | 38
| |
| 8 | Telšiai County ([listen] • [info]) 
| Telšiai | 4,350 (10) | 180,000 (9) | 41.4 (6) | 36
| |
| 9 | Utena County ([listen] • [info]) 
| Utena | 7,201 (5) | 186,400 (8) | 25.9 (10) | 53
| |
| 10 | Vilnius County ([listen] • [info]) 
| Vilnius | 9,760 (1) | 850,700 (1) | 87.2 (1) | 107 |
Map
This map shows counties as well as municipalities. Eight city municipalities and two municipalities are marked by numbers:
See also
References
- [Table: Total area, population and density] at [Statistics Lithuania] (2006). Demographic Statistics Division. Regional Database. Retrieved 19 January 2006.
- [Counties] at [Lithuanian Central Internet Gates] (2006). Information Society Development Committee under the Government of Lithuania. Retrieved 19 January 2006.
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