List of Cities in Lithuania

List Of Cities In Lithuania

In Lithuania there are 103 cities (in Lithuanian: singular – miestas, plural – miestai). The term city is defined by the Parliament of Lithuania as compact areas populated by more than 3,000 people of whom at least two thirds work in the industry or service sector. Those settlements which have a population of less than 3,000 but historically had city status are still considered to be cities. Smaller settlements are called miestelis (plural miesteliai) which is translated as towns. Even smaller settlements (villages) are called kaimas (plural kaimai). Often the official status is not clear and people refer to both towns and villages as gyvenvietė (plural gyvenvietės) which in essence means settlement.

The cities started to form in the 13th-14th century together with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The first city to receive city rights was Klaipėda. According to medieval law, a city could have its own fairs, taverns, guilds, courts, etc. Some former cities lost their status are now just towns or villages, for example Kernavė or Merkinė. Most of the cities in Lithuania are old, established before the 18th century. Their location is mostly determined by trade and transportation routes. Some of the newer cities grew because of railroad construction, for example Kaišiadorys, Vievis, Radviliškis, Ignalina or Mažeikiai. In the last century cities grew new to big industry centers, for example Visaginas, Elektrėnai or Naujoji Akmenė. Five cities – Birštonas, Druskininkai, Neringa, Palanga and Anykščiai – have a special resort status.

Most of the cities are small. There are only 19 cities with population of more than 20,000. Cities are quite evenly spread out through the territory of Lithuania. This forms a good network to support economic development throughout the country. About 66.7% (as of 2001 census) of the population lives in cities and the percentage is growing.