Country profile
Lithuania
Lietuvos Respublika
Europe · Northern Europe
LT · LTU
- Capital
- Vilnius
- Population
- 2,894,886
- Area
- 65,300 km²
- Democracy index
- 86
- Regime type
- Robust Democracy
Events
Ballots from Lithuania
The latest elections, referendums, and opinion polls from Lithuania. Community totals are not official results.
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Classification
Democracy profile
The score and regime label are assigned by Porto Voto using our in-house democracy index and classification framework, not ratings from governments or external agencies.
Democracy index
86/100
Regime type
Robust Democracy
Lithuania continues to maintain a highly stable and well functioning institutional framework, characterized by a resilient constitutional architecture, a reliable rule of law, and strong protections for civil liberties. The political system features open, competitive elections and peaceful changes of power, despite recent political shifts and coalitions that did not finish full legislative terms. While public trust in political institutions exhibits some volatility and the domestic security landscape is under heightened strain due to regional airspace incursions, such as recent stray drone alerts near the borders with Belarus and the Kaliningrad exclave, democratic procedures remain firmly entrenched. The judiciary operates with independence, and institutional frameworks for combating administrative corruption remain robust. Civil society and independent journalism function without systemic state interference, securing the nation its position as a stable Baltic democracy capable of effectively navigating intense external geopolitical pressures.
Last evaluation:
How we classify regimes →World Factbook
Country background
A concise introduction to Lithuania, together with notes on how power and law are organized, to put local ballots in context.
Lithuanian lands were united under MINDAUGAS in 1236; over the next century, Lithuania extended its territory through alliances and conquest to include most of present-day Belarus and Ukraine. By the end of the 14th century, Lithuania was the largest state in Europe. An alliance with Poland in 1386 led the two countries into a union through a common ruler.
In 1569, Lithuania and Poland formally united into a single dual state, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. This entity survived until 1795 when surrounding countries partitioned its remnants. Lithuania regained its independence after World War I, but the USSR annexed it in 1940 -- an action never recognized by the US and many other countries.
In 1990, Lithuania became the first of the Soviet republics to declare its independence, but Moscow did not recognize this proclamation until 1991. The last Russian troops withdrew in 1993. Lithuania subsequently restructured its economy for integration into West European institutions; it joined both NATO and the EU in 2004.
In 2015, Lithuania joined the euro zone, and it joined the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in 2018.