Municipalities of Lithuania

File:Seniūnija Lituania 2020.png

Lithuanian municipalities and elderships map

File:EU-Lithuania.svg

Location of Lithuania in the European Union

Lithuania is divided into three levels of administrative divisions. The first-level division consists of 10 counties (Lithuanian: singular – apskritis, plural – apskritys). These are sub-divided into 60 municipalities (Lithuanian: plural – savivaldybės, singular – savivaldybė), which in turn are further sub-divided into over 500 smaller groups, known as elderships (Lithuanian: plural – seniūnijos, singular – seniūnija).

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.<ref name=conf>Template:Cite book</ref> The reform of this system was an immediate concern for the new government.<ref name=coe>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.<ref name=coe/> The current system of a set of municipalities under 10 counties was codified by 1995.<ref name=coe/> Several changes were made in 2000, resulting in 60 municipalities.<ref name="(Program)Development2007">Template:Cite book</ref>

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,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> is elected directly by the residents using the two-round system since 2015 reforms.<ref name="MunicipalLaw">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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 (Template:Percentage) of the country's population. The smallest municipality by population is Neringa Municipality with 4,173 (Template:Percentage) residents.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The largest municipality by land area is Varėna District Municipality, which spans Template:Convert, while the smallest is Alytus City Municipality at Template:Convert.

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. File:Municipalities in Lithuania.png

1 – Vilnius City Municipality 2 – Kaunas City Municipality 3 – Klaipėda City Municipality

4 – Panevėžys City Municipality 5 – Šiauliai City Municipality 6 – Alytus City Municipality

7 – Birštonas Municipality 8 – Palanga City Municipality 9 – Visaginas Municipality 10 – Neringa Municipality

Municipalities

As of January 1, 2024.<ref name=stat/> Template:Static row numbersTemplate:Table alignmentTemplate:Mw-datatable

Municipality		Capital<ref>Municipality 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 Template:Webarchive.</ref>	County	Region	Area<ref name=stat>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Populations	Density
File:Naujoji Akmenė COA.svg	Akmenė District Municipality	Naujoji Akmenė	Šiauliai	Žemaitija	Template:Convert	19,126	Template:Round
File:Coat of arms of Alytus (Lithuania).svg	Alytus City Municipality	Alytus	Alytus	Dzūkija	Template:Convert	51,351	Template:Round
File:Alytus district COA.svg	Alytus District Municipality	Alytus	Alytus	Dzūkija	Template:Convert	25,464	Template:Round
File:Anykščiai COA great.svg	Anykščiai District Municipality	Anykščiai	Utena	Aukštaitija	Template:Convert	22,372	Template:Round
File:Birstonas COA.svg	Birštonas Municipality	Birštonas	Kaunas	Dzūkija	Template:Convert	4,087	Template:Round
File:Biržai COA.svg	Biržai District Municipality	Biržai	Panevėžys	Aukštaitija	Template:Convert	22,111	Template:Round
File:Coat of arms of Druskininkai (Lithuania).svg	Druskininkai Municipality	Druskininkai	Alytus	Dzūkija	Template:Convert	20,103	Template:Round
File:Elektrenai COA.svg	Elektrėnai Municipality	Elektrėnai	Vilnius	Dzūkija	Template:Convert	24,745	Template:Round
File:Coat of arms of Ignalina (Lithuania).svg	Ignalina District Municipality	Ignalina	Utena	Aukštaitija	Template:Convert	13,814	Template:Round
File:Coat of arms of Jonava (Lithuania).svg	Jonava District Municipality	Jonava	Kaunas	Aukštaitija	Template:Convert	41,489	Template:Round
File:Coat of arms of Joniskis.svg	Joniškis District Municipality	Joniškis	Šiauliai	Aukštaitija	Template:Convert	20,289	Template:Round
File:Jurbarkas COA.svg	Jurbarkas District Municipality	Jurbarkas	Tauragė	Žemaitija	Template:Convert	25,443	Template:Round
File:Kaišiadorys COA.svg	Kaišiadorys District Municipality	Kaišiadorys	Kaunas	Aukštaitija	Template:Convert	29,062	Template:Round
File:Kalvarija COA great.svg	Kalvarija Municipality	Kalvarija	Marijampolė	Suvalkija	Template:Convert	9,734	Template:Round
File:Coat of arms of Kaunas.svg	Kaunas City Municipality	Kaunas	Kaunas	Aukštaitija	Template:Convert	304,198	Template:Round
File:Kaunas district COA.svg	Kaunas District Municipality	Kaunas	Kaunas	Aukštaitija	Template:Convert	106,277	Template:Round
File:Coat of arms of Kazlu Ruda (Lithuania).svg	Kazlų Rūda Municipality	Kazlų Rūda	Marijampolė	Suvalkija	Template:Convert	10,835	Template:Round
File:Coat of arms of Kedainiai (Lithuania).svg	Kėdainiai District Municipality	Kėdainiai	Kaunas	Aukštaitija	Template:Convert	45,923	Template:Round
File:Kelmes-herbas.svg	Kelmė District Municipality	Kelmė	Šiauliai	Žemaitija	Template:Convert	24,347	Template:Round
File:Klaipeda City Arms.svg	Klaipėda City Municipality	Klaipėda	Klaipėda	Prūsija	Template:Convert	159,396	Template:Round
File:Gargždai COA.svg	Klaipėda District Municipality	Klaipėda	Klaipėda	Prūsija	Template:Convert	67,280	Template:Round
File:Kretinga COA.svg	Kretinga District Municipality	Kretinga	Klaipėda	Žemaitija	Template:Convert	37,433	Template:Round
File:Kupiškis COA.svg	Kupiškis District Municipality	Kupiškis	Panevėžys	Aukštaitija	Template:Convert	15,765	Template:Round
File:Lazdijai COA.svg	Lazdijai District Municipality	Lazdijai	Alytus	Dzūkija	Template:Convert	17,201	Template:Round
File:Marijampole COA.svg	Marijampolė Municipality	Marijampolė	Marijampolė	Suvalkija	Template:Convert	54,590	Template:Round
File:Coat of arms of Mazeikiai (Lithuania).svg	Mažeikiai District Municipality	Mažeikiai	Telšiai	Žemaitija	Template:Convert	51,909	Template:Round
File:Coat of arms of Moletai (Lithuania).svg	Molėtai District Municipality	Molėtai	Utena	Aukštaitija	Template:Convert	16,517	Template:Round
File:Coat of arms of Neringa (Lithuania).svg	Neringa Municipality	Nida	Klaipėda	Prūsija	Template:Convert	4,265	Template:Round
File:Pagėgiai COA.svg	Pagėgiai Municipality	Pagėgiai	Tauragė	Prūsija	Template:Convert	7,059	Template:Round
File:Coat of arms of Pakruojis (Lithuania).svg	Pakruojis District Municipality	Pakruojis	Šiauliai	Aukštaitija	Template:Convert	17,870	Template:Round
File:Coat of arms of Palanga (Lithuania).svg	Palanga City Municipality	Palanga	Klaipėda	Žemaitija	Template:Convert	18,066	Template:Round
File:Coat of Arms of Panevezys.svg	Panevėžys City Municipality	Panevėžys	Panevėžys	Aukštaitija	Template:Convert	86,599	Template:Round
File:Panevėžys District COA.svg	Panevėžys District Municipality	Panevėžys	Panevėžys	Aukštaitija	Template:Convert	35,378	Template:Round
File:Pasvalys COA.svg	Pasvalys District Municipality	Pasvalys	Panevėžys	Aukštaitija	Template:Convert	21,930	Template:Round
File:Plungė COA.svg	Plungė District Municipality	Plungė	Telšiai	Žemaitija	Template:Convert	33,042	Template:Round
File:Prienai COA.svg	Prienai District Municipality	Prienai	Kaunas	Suvalkija	Template:Convert	24,675	Template:Round
File:Radviliškis Coat of Arms.svg	Radviliškis District Municipality	Radviliškis	Šiauliai	Aukštaitija	Template:Convert	34,302	Template:Round
File:Raseiniai COA.svg	Raseiniai District Municipality	Raseiniai	Kaunas	Žemaitija	Template:Convert	29,769	Template:Round
File:Rietavas COA.svg	Rietavas Municipality	Rietavas	Telšiai	Žemaitija	Template:Convert	7,115	Template:Round
File:Rokiškis COA.svg	Rokiškis District Municipality	Rokiškis	Panevėžys	Aukštaitija	Template:Convert	27,288	Template:Round
File:Skuodas COA.svg	Skuodas District Municipality	Skuodas	Klaipėda	Žemaitija	Template:Convert	15,201	Template:Round
File:Šakiai COA.svg	Šakiai District Municipality	Šakiai	Marijampolė	Suvalkija	Template:Convert	25,603	Template:Round
File:LIT VL Šalčininkai CoA.svg	Šalčininkai District Municipality	Šalčininkai	Vilnius	Dzūkija	Template:Convert	29,888	Template:Round
File:Coat of arms of Šiauliai Grand (Lithuania).svg	Šiauliai City Municipality	Šiauliai	Šiauliai	Žemaitija	Template:Convert	110,461	Template:Round
File:Šiauliai district COA.svg	Šiauliai District Municipality	Šiauliai	Šiauliai	Žemaitija	Template:Convert	40,565	Template:Round
File:Coat of arms of Šilalė.svg	Šilalė District Municipality	Šilalė	Tauragė	Žemaitija	Template:Convert	20,861	Template:Round
File:Coat of arms of Silute (Lithuania).svg	Šilutė District Municipality	Šilutė	Klaipėda	Prūsija	Template:Convert	38,331	Template:Round
File:Coat of arms of Širvintos (Lithuania).svg	Širvintos District Municipality	Širvintos	Vilnius	Aukštaitija	Template:Convert	14,668	Template:Round
File:Herb Święcian.svg	Švenčionys District Municipality	Švenčionys	Vilnius	Aukštaitija	Template:Convert	21,795	Template:Round
File:Coat of arms of Taurage (Lithuania).svg	Tauragė District Municipality	Tauragė	Tauragė	Žemaitija	Template:Convert	37,215	Template:Round
File:Telšiai COA great.svg	Telšiai District Municipality	Telšiai	Telšiai	Žemaitija	Template:Convert	38,852	Template:Round
File:Trakai district COA.svg	Trakai District Municipality	Trakai	Vilnius	Dzūkija	Template:Convert	34,595	Template:Round
File:Ukmergė COA.svg	Ukmergė District Municipality	Ukmergė	Vilnius	Aukštaitija	Template:Convert	34,023	Template:Round
File:Coat of arms of Utena (Lithuania).svg	Utena District Municipality	Utena	Utena	Aukštaitija	Template:Convert	39,671	Template:Round
File:Varėna COA.svg	Varėna District Municipality	Varėna	Alytus	Dzūkija	Template:Convert	20,082	Template:Round
File:Vilkaviškis CoA.svg	Vilkaviškis District Municipality	Vilkaviškis	Marijampolė	Suvalkija	Template:Convert	33,906	Template:Round
File:Grand Coat of arms of Vilnius.svg	Vilnius City Municipality	Vilnius	Vilnius	Dzūkija	Template:Convert	602,430	Template:Round
File:Vilnius district COA.svg	Vilnius District Municipality	Vilnius	Vilnius	Dzūkija	Template:Convert	106,197	Template:Round
File:Visaginas COA.svg	Visaginas Municipality	Visaginas	Utena	Aukštaitija	Template:Convert	19,584	Template:Round
File:Coat of arms of Zarasai.svg	Zarasai District Municipality	Zarasai	Utena	Aukštaitija	Template:Convert	14,368	Template:Round

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)

Notes and references

Notes

References

Sources

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