List of cities in Lithuania
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In Lithuania, there are 103 cities (in Lithuanian: singular – miestas, plural – miestai). The term city is defined by the Parliament of Lithuania as a compact urban area with more than 3,000 people, of whom at least two-thirds work in the industry or service sector. Settlements with a population of less than 3,000 but with historical 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 centuries together with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The first 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 and are now just towns or villages, for example Kernavė and Merkinė. Most of the cities in Lithuania were 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 and Mažeikiai. In the 20th century, cities grew next to big industrial centers, for example Visaginas, Elektrėnai and Naujoji Akmenė. Five cities (Birštonas, Druskininkai, Neringa, Palanga and Anykščiai) have a special resort status.
Most of the cities are small. There are only 14 cities with a population of more than 20,000. Cities are quite evenly spread out through the territory of Lithuania. At the 2001 census 66.7% of the population lived in cities, and the percentage is growing. During the 2021 census it increased to 68.2% of population.
# | CoA | City | Pronunciation | Population | Change | Granted city rights |
County | Municipalities in urban area | Urban area (2024) | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2024 | 2021 | 2001 | |||||||||
1 | Vilnius | Listen • Info | 602,430 | 546,155 | 554,281 | −1.47% | 1387 | Vilnius County | Vilnius City Municipality Vilnius District Municipality | 708,627 | |
2 | Kaunas | Listen • Info | 304,210 | 298,753 | 378,943 | −21.16% | 1408 | Kaunas County | Kaunas City Municipality Kaunas District Municipality | 410,475 | |
3 | Klaipėda | Listen • Info | 159,403 | 152,008 | 192,954 | −21.22% | 1257 | Klaipėda County | Klaipėda City Municipality Klaipėda District Municipality | 226,676 | |
4 | Šiauliai | Listen • Info | 110,463 | 100,653 | 133,883 | −24.82% | 1589 | Šiauliai County | Šiauliai City Municipality Šiauliai District Municipality | 151,026 | |
5 | Panevėžys | Listen • Info | 86,606 | 89,100 | 119,749 | −25.59% | 1837 | Panevėžys County | Panevėžys City Municipality Panevėžys District Municipality | 121,977 | |
6 | Alytus | Listen • Info | 51,353 | 52,727 | 71,491 | −26.25% | 1581 | Alytus County | Alytus City Municipality Alytus District Municipality | 76,815 | |
# | CoA | City | Pronunciation | Population | Change) | Granted city rights |
County | Municipality | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2024 | 2021 | 2001 | ||||||||
1 | Marijampolė | Listen • Info | 36,704 | 36,727 | 48,675 | −24.55% | 1792 | Marijampolė County | Marijampolė Municipality | |
2 | Mažeikiai | Listen • Info | 33,377 | 33,101 | 42,675 | −22.43% | 1924 | Telšiai County | Mažeikiai District Municipality | |
3 | Utena | Listen • Info | 27,763 | 25,343 | 33,860 | −25.15% | 1599 | Utena County | Utena District Municipality | |
4 | Jonava | Listen • Info | 26,838 | 27,381 | 34,954 | −21.67% | 1864 | Kaunas County | Jonava District Municipality | |
5 | Kėdainiai | Listen • Info | 23,362 | 23,461 | 32,048 | −26.79% | 1590 | Kaunas County | Kėdainiai District Municipality | |
6 | Telšiai | Listen • Info | 22,024 | 22,642 | 31,460 | −28.03% | 1791 | Telšiai County | Telšiai District Municipality | |
7 | Tauragė | Listen • Info | 21,216 | 21,203 | 29,124 | −27.20% | 1924 | Tauragė County | Tauragė District Municipality | |
8 | Ukmergė | Listen • Info | 20,928 | 21,258 | 28,759 | −26.08% | 1486 | Vilnius County | Ukmergė District Municipality | |
The smallest cities in Lithuania that have below 1,000 inhabitants. The counties are ranked by number of cities and further ranked by the population of the largest one. Cities are ranked by the size of the population.
- Panevėžys County (5)
- Subačius, Obeliai, Vabalninkas, Pandėlys, Joniškėlis.
- Utena County (4)
- Dūkštas, Kavarskas, Dusetos, Troškūnai.
- Telšiai County (2)
- Varniai, Seda.
- Tauragė County (2)
- Smalininkai, Panemunė.
- Marijampolė County (1)
- Virbalis.
- Šiauliai County (1)
- Užventis.
- Vilnius County (1)
- Baltoji Vokė.
- Alytus County (1)
- Daugai.