Gross domestic product (GDP)

Lithuania’s GDP at current prices was LTL 105,712 million in 2011, which grew by 5.8% compared to the previous year. The Ministry of Finance has forecasted GDP to grow by 2.5% in 2012 and by 3.7% in 2013. Lithuania’s central bank, the Bank of Lithuania, forecasts a GDP growth of 2.2% in 2012 and of 3.3% in 2013.

In 2011, positive changes in gross value added (GVA) was observed in all groups of economic activities. The largest growth in GVA was observed in construction by 15%, trade, transport and communication services by 7.3%.

(Source: Statistics Lithuania, Statistics Lithuania)

(Source: Statistics Lithuania)

The GDP growth rate of Lithuania declined to 2.9% in 2008 from 9.8% in 2007. It continued to decline to -14.8% in 2009. In 2010, it rose to 1.4% and in 2011 to 5.8%.

GDP growth became positive due to an increase in exports (28.9% compared with 2010), foreign direct investment, manufacturing activity and industrial output. 

(Source: MOE)

GDP per capita 

(Source: Statistics Lithuania)

In 2011, GDP per capita at current prices was LTL 32,788.62 compared to LTL 28,926.09 in 2010.

Gross national income (GNI)

Lithuania’s GNI was USD 37.84 billion in 2010.

(Source: World Bank)

GNI per capita, PPP

Lithuania’s GNI per capita at PPP in 2010 was USD 17,870 compared to USD 17,380 in 2009 and USD 18,940 in 2008.

 

(Source: World Bank)

Income tax rate

The income tax rate for individuals in Lithuania is 15%, which is levied on income excluding distributed profit and non-taxable income.  In terms of income from distributed profits, the income tax rate is 20%.

(Source: STI)

Corporate tax rate

The corporate tax rate on profits for Lithuanian companies and permanent establishments is 15%, effective since January 2010. The corporate tax rate was 20% in 2009.

 

Tax contribution	Statutory tax rate	Total tax rate (% profit)
Corporate income tax	15.0%	5.7
Social security tax	31.0%	34.9
Land tax	1.5%	0.8
Environmental tax	LTL 184 per month	0.4
Real estate tax	0.9%	0.9
Fuel tax	LTL 947 for one ton of diesel fuel	0.9
Vehicle tax	fixed fee (LTL 990 to LT 1600)	0.2
Value added tax (VAT)	21.0%

 

(Source: STI, DoingBusiness.org)

 

Inflation rate

 

 

(Source: Statistics Lithuania)

The annual inflation rate in 2011 was 3.4%, decreasing from 3.8% in 2010. The inflation rate in 2007 and 2008 was more than 8%, the highest in the past five years.

FDI Inflow

FDI in Lithuania was LTL 35,553.10 million in 2010 compared to LTL 33,010.30 million in 2009. Poland was the biggest contributor to the total inflow of FDI in 2010 with LTL 4,054.89 million. Germany (3,903.97 million) and Sweden (3,149.56 million) was important investors also.

In 2010, the main foreign investment was in the manufacturing sector, with petroleum and chemical products being the major beneficiaries. Financial and insurance sector was second largest field of FDI.

(Source: Statistics Lithuania)

 

(Source: Statistics Lithuania)

Portfolio investment inflow

 

Portfolio Investment Inflow (LTL million)
	2010	2009	2008	2007
Credit	199.34	625.45	950.70	843.95
Debit	-1,291.77	-822.78	-620.51	-548.86

(Source: Bank of Lithuania)

Banking sector assets

The Bank of Lithuania’s total assets stood at LTL 22,892.1 million at the end of December 2011, registering a growth of 12.6 % over October 2011.

	December 2011 (LTL million)	December 2010 (LTL million)
Total Assets	22,892.1	18,188.5
External assets	22,291.2	17,818.1
Remaining assets	191.9	207.2
Fixed assets	139.7	144.6
Loans to residents	14.9	17.1
Shares and other equity issued by residents	1.5	1.5

 

(Source: Bank of Lithuania)

Consumer price index

CPI in January 2012 was 135.68, increasing by 0.34% over the previous month.

(Source: Statistics Lithuania)

Interest rate on time deposits

(Source: Bank of Lithuania)

Money supply (Currency in Circulation)

Since December 2010, the total number of notes in circulation is approximately 77 million with a total value of LTL 8,613 million; whereas the number of coins in circulation is approximately 975 million with value of LTL 198 million.

(Source: Bank of Lithuania)

Government expenditure

In 2010, general government expenditure was LTL 38,914.27 million, declining by 2.57% over the previous year. Lithuania’s main expenditure was on social protection, education, and healthcare sectors.

(Source: Statistics Lithuania)

Public debt

In 2010, public debt in Lithuania was LTL 36,113.8 million, an increase of 33.84% over the previous year. Public debts accounted for 38.0% of GDP in 2010.

(Source: Statistics Lithuania)

Official exchange rate

From 1994 to 2002, the litas was pegged to the U.S dollar at the rate 4 to 1. Currently the litas is pegged to the euro at the rate of 3.4528 to 1.

(Source: Bank of Lithuania)

Government finances

Fiscal balance

Lithuania has been running a fiscal deficit for the past ten years. The fiscal deficit in 2010 was LTL 6,702.9 million, which amounts to 7.0% of GDP. Against 2009, the general government deficit decreased by LTL 2025 million. The high level of fiscal deficit was due to a decrease in tax revenues by 2%. Government expenditures on social protection were decreased by 3.4%, expenditures on social benefits and transfers decreased by 10.3 %. Lower expenditures let decrease general government deficit from 9.5% to 7% of GDP.

(Source: Statistics Lithuania, Statistics Lithuania)

Total revenue

Total government revenue for the first three quarters of 2011 stood at LTL 24,489.4 million.

 

(Source: Statistics Lithuania)

Tax revenue

Lithuania's total tax revenue in 2010 was LTL 16429.5 million, a decrease of 0.54% over the previous year.

(Source: Statistic of Lithuania)

Total grants

In 2010, investment grants and other capital transfers amounted to LTL 2,550.1 million, increasing by 67.89% compared to 2009.

(Source: Statistics Lithuania)

Current account balance - surplus/deficit

(Source:Bank of Lithuania)

The current account balance in 2010 was LTL 1,415.05 million showing a 65.31% decrease over the previous year. Some of the factors that accounted for the surplus in 2010 included a increase in exports by 32.67% and services by 88.51%. Growing inflation, wages and imports resulted decrease compared to 2009.

Balance of payment

Balance of Payment (LTL Million)
	2011 (till Q3)	2010
Current account	602.70	1,415.05
Capital and financial account	-681.47	-1,421.91
Errors and omissions	78.77	6.86

(Source: Bank of Lithuania)

Labour force

The labour force was 1.62 million in 2011, which was a slight decrease over the previous year. Women accounted for 50.92% of the total labour force. Out of the total labour force, 1.37 million people were employed and 0.249 million were unemployed. Labour force activity rate was 59.0% in 2011 and the employment rate was 49.9% in the same year.

The unemployment rate in Lithuania decreased to 15.4% in 2011 compared to 17.8% in 2010. In IV quarter 2011, the unemployment rate in the country stood at 13.9 per cent, which is by 0.9 percentage points less than in III quarter 2011. The decrease in the unemployment rate coincided with a recovery in the economy and demand growth in labour force.

(Source: Statistics Lithuania)

(Source: Statistics Lithuania)

Employment in agriculture, forestry and fishing

The number of people employed in agriculture, forestry and fishing was 26,935 in 2010, decreasing by  3.87% over the previous year. Within these sectors 66.6% were employed in crop and animal production, hunting and service related activities.

(Source: Statistics Lithuania)

Minimum wage

The minimum monthly wage of employees in Lithuania was LTL 800 in 2011, which remained unchanged from 2008 levels. The minimum hourly wage is LTL 4.85

(Source: Statistics Lithuania)

Level of unionisation

The number of trade union members stood at 112,600 in 2010. There were 12.000 members in business and employers associations in 2010. The main trade unions in Lithuania include:

• The Lithuanian Trade Union Confederation
• Lithuanian Trade Union
• Lithuanian Labour Federation

(Source: Statistics Lithuania, europa.eu)

Government stability

Lithuania is a parliamentary democracy. It has a constitution which was adopted through referendum on 25^th October 1992.

The powers of soverignty are vested in the citizens in accordance with the constitution and are exercised through democratically elected representatives, the president, the Seimas, the government and the judiciary system.  Seimas is the legislative body of the nation and the Lithuanian government is accountable to the Seimas. It consists of 141 members.

The president is the head of  state and is elected by citizens for a term of five years. The government consists of the prime minister and the cabinet. Ms. Dalia Grybauskaite is the current President and Mr. Andrius Kubilius is the Prime Minister.

Political parties active in Lithuania are:

• Homeland Union-Lithuanian Christian Democrats
• The National Revival Political Group
• The Liberals Movement Political Group
• The Liberal and Centre Political Group
• The Lithuanian Social Democratic Party Group
• The Labour Party Group
• Order and Justice Party Group

(Source: Official Gate)

Regulatory environment

The state powers are executed by the president, the Seimas, government and the judiciary.

The president has a major influence on the government, foreign policy and domestic policy. The president has the authority to appoint and dismiss the Seimas, the prime minister, the commander of the armed forces and the head of the security service.

The main powers of the Seimas include issuing laws and making amendments to the constitution, approving the state budget and conducting presidential and municipal elections.

(Source: Office of the President, Office of the Seimas)

Lithuania's economic freedom score is 71.5 making its economy the 23^th freest in the 2012 Index of Economic Freedom. It ranks 11^th out of 43 countries in the European region.

(Source: heritage.org)

Corruption perception

The Republic of Lithuania was placed in 50^th position in the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2012 with a score of 4.8. CPI measures the perceived level of public-sector corruption in 178 countries and territories around the world.

(Source: transparency.org)

Freedom of information

The Lithuanian media operates independently of the state.

Newspapers:

• Lietuvos Rytas
• Respublika
• Kauno Diena
• Lietuvos Zinios

Lithuania was ranked 30^th in the World Press Freedom Index 2011-2012. It shares its ranking with Australia. Lithuanian Wold Press Freedom Index dropped by 19 positions compared to 2009.

(Source: BBC, rsf.org)

Judicial system

the judicial system in Lithuania consists of four courts which include:

• The Supreme Court of Lithuania
• The Court of Appeal of Lithuania
• Regional courts
• District Courts

These courts consist of nine justices with nine year non-renewable terms. The judicial system consists of the supreme court of Lithuania and the court of appeal of Lithuania.

The candidature for the Supreme Court justices and President of the Supreme Court is submitted by the President of Lithuania to the Seimas. The President of the court of appeal and regional and local courts is appointed by the President of the nation.

(Source: Official gate)

Population

Lithuania’s estimated population was 3.24 million people at the beginning of 2011, a decrease of 2.5% compared to the previous year. At the beginning of 2011, men and women accounted for 46.46% and 53.54% of the total population respectively.

(Source: Statistics Lithuania)

Gender ratio

The gender ratio in Lithuania is slightly imbalanced with 1,153 women per 1,000 men in 2011. 

(Source: Statistics Lithuania)

68.95% of the population lies within the 15 to 64 age group, followed by 16.05% above 65 years and the remaining 15% below 14 years of age.

(Source: Statistics Lithuania)

Mortality rate

In 2010, the overall mortality rate was 12.8 deaths per 1000 people. Lithuania registered 40,983 deaths in 2011. The infant mortality rate decreased from 13.9 infant deaths per 1000 live births in 1994 to 4.3 infant deaths per 1000 live births in 2010.

(Source: Statistics Lithuania, Statistics Lithuania)

Birth rate

The birth rate in Lithuania has been fluctuating over the past few years. In 2010, the birth rate was 10.8 live births per 1000 people.  The average life expectancy in 2010 was 67.98 years for men and 78.78 years for women.

(Source: Statistics Lithuania, Statistics Lithuania)

Ethnicity

Lithuania is a multi-ethnic country. Lithuania's population consists of approximately 115 ethnic groups. The main ethnic groups include Lithuanians (83.5%), Poles (6.7%), Russians (6.3%), Belarusians (1.2%) and others (2.3%).

(Source: Official Gateway)

Migration and urbanisation

In 2011, 53,863 people emigrated from Lithuania, an decrease of 35.23% compared to 2010 when emigration reached scale of 83,157 people. There were 16.7 emigrants per 1000 people. 15,685 people immigrated to Lithuania in 2011, a increase of 300.36% over the previous year. Lithuania had 4.9 immigrants per 1000 people.

The majority of the population of Lithuania is urbanised as 66.97% of the population live in urban areas compared to 33.03% in rural areas.

(Source: Statistics Lithuania, Statistics Lithuania)

Poverty

In 2010, 20.2% of the total population were at the risk of poverty.

(Source: Statistics Lithuania, Statistics Lithuania)

Human Development Index

Lithuania ranked 40^th on the Human Development Index (HDI) 2012, conducted by the United Nations. HDI provides a composite measure of three dimensions of human development: living a long and healthy life (measured by life expectancy), being educated (measured by adult literacy and gross enrolment in education) and having a decent standard of living (measured by purchasing power parity, PPP, income).

(Source: UNDP)

Education/literacy rate

The literacy rate in Lithuania was 99.7% in 2012.

(Source: UNDP)

Education resources

Lithuania has a number of educational institutions including state and non-state schools.

The education system consists of 12 years general education and two stages of higher education - bachelors and master studies. The government provides grants to students, which is called the pupil’s basket for education purposes. 

Education facilities in Lithuania include 30 state higher education institutions, more specifically 15 universities and 15 colleges. It also has 19 non-state higher educational institutions including 7 universities and 12 colleges. There are 17 National research institutes, 18 university research institutes and 8 State science institutions.

In 2010, the government spent LTL 5,810.33 million on the education sector.

(Source: Statistics Lithuania, MOE)

Healthcare resources

Lithuania provides various healthcare facilities to people.  The government implements various programmes including the Traumatism Prevention Program 2000-2010 to prevent trauma deaths and accidents, the National Drug Control and Drug Addiction Prevention Programme to reduce the use of narcotic and psychoactive substances and the National HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Programme.

In 2010, Lithuania  had 26,804 hospital beds, with 82.6 beds per 10,000 people.

The government spent LTL 6,675.6 on the healthcare sector in 2010, decreaseing by 3.7% over the previous year.

(Source: Statistics Lithuania, Statistics Lithuania, MOH)

Mass public transit

Lithuania's main forms of public transport are by rail and road travel.

Roadways;

The total length of the road network is 21,320.232 km which includes main roads (1,748.456 km), national roads (4,946.472 km) and regional roads (14,625.304 km).

(Source: LRA)

Railways:

The total rail length in Lithuania is 1,768 Km, of which 1,746 km are large gauge lines and 22 km are standard gauge lines.

(Source: UNECE)

Ports

Klaipeda State Seaport is the only port in Lithuania.

(Source: world port)

Airports

(Source: Air charter world)

Telecommunications networks

Total number of subscribers

(Source: Statistics Lithuania)

Broadband penetration

(Source: Statistics Lithuania)