Utena County

Utena County (Lithuanian: Utenos Apskritis) is one of ten counties in Lithuania. It is the country's most sparsely populated county. The capital and the largest city in the county is Utena, which is 95 km (59 mi) from Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. On 1 July 2010, the county administration was abolished.^[3] Since that date, Utena County remains as a territorial and statistical unit. It borders Latvia.

Utena County Utenos apskritis
County
From the top to bottom-right:Musical fountains in Utena, Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant, Lithuanian Museum of Ethnocosmology, Lithuanian Horse Museum, Wooden church in Palūšė-Aukštaitija National Park
Flag Coat of arms
Location of Utena County
Country	Lithuania
Administrative centre	Utena
Municipalities	List Anykščiai district municipality Ignalina district municipality Molėtai district municipality Utena district municipality Visaginas municipality Zarasai district municipality
Area
• Total	7,191 km2 (2,776 sq mi)
	(11% of the area of Lithuania)
Population  (2021-10-12)
• Total	130,613
• Rank	8th of 10 (6.0% of the population of Lithuania)
• Density	18/km2 (47/sq mi)
GDP [1]
• Total	€1.8 billion (2023) · 9th
Time zone	UTC+2 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+3 (EEST)
ISO 3166 code	LT-UT
HDI (2022)	0.837[2] very high · 8th

History

Utena is one of the oldest settlements in Lithuania and is mentioned in historical chronicles as early as in 1261.

Municipalities

It is divided into six municipalities:

	Anykščiai District Municipality
	Ignalina District Municipality
	Molėtai District Municipality
	Utena District Municipality
	Visaginas Municipality
	Zarasai District Municipality

Economy

The county has a well-developed network of roads. Main branches of economy are textile, food and timber processing, beer and wine production, power engineering.

Tourism

Utena County is the second most popular tourism destination in Lithuania (after the seaside).^{[citation needed]} Approximately 31% of territory is covered with forests. There are 1002 lakes in the county. They are connected by rivers and provide good opportunities for water tourism. One of the biggest tourism attractions is Aukštaitija National Park. In addition, the county has six other regional parks. There are a number of unique places of interest that can be found only in Utena county, e.g., Asveja, the longest lake in Lithuania and Lake Tauragnas, the deepest one; Horse Museum, Lithuanian Museum of Ancient Beekeeping, Lithuanian Museum of Ethnocosmology, narrow gauge railway, a burial mound exposition, an exhibition of stone dust pictures.