Municipalities of Lithuania

File:Seniūnija Lituania 2020.png

Lithuanian municipalities and elderships map

Map of the European Union with Lithuania highlighted in green

Location of Lithuania in the European Union

Lithuania is divided into two levels of administrative divisions. The first-level division consists of 60 municipalities (Lithuanian: singular – savivaldybė, plural – savivaldybės), which are further sub-divided into over 500 smaller units, known as elderships (Lithuanian: plural – seniūnijos, singular – seniūnija). For statistical and reporting purposes, municipalities are grouped into 10 counties (Lithuanian: singular – apskritis, plural – apskritys).

At the end of its tenure as a Soviet Socialist Republic, Lithuania's administrative divisions consisted of 44 regions, 12 cities, 80 towns, 19 settlements, and 426 rural districts. The reform of this system was an immediate concern for the new government. The Constitution of Lithuania, ratified in 1992, delegated the power of establishing future administrative units to the Lithuanian Parliament (Seimas). Accordingly, the Seimas passed two fundamental laws: a 1993 law on government representation and a 1994 law specifying the territorial-administrative units and their boundaries. The current system of a set of municipalities under 10 counties was codified by 1995. Several changes were made in 2000, resulting in 60 municipalities.

Ordinary municipal councilors are elected every four years from electoral lists using proportional representation. The mayor, who used to be a member of the council until 2023, is elected directly by the residents using the two-round system since 2015 reforms. Before then, the mayors were elected by the municipal councils.

The largest municipality by population in Lithuania is Vilnius City Municipality with 593,436 residents, home to one fifth () of the country's population. The smallest municipality by population is Neringa Municipality with 4,173 () residents.

The largest municipality by land area is Varėna District Municipality, which spans , while the smallest is Alytus City Municipality at .

Powers and functions

Municipalities are established to perform certain functions provided by law. According to the abovementioned Republic of Lithuania Law on Local Self-Government, the functions of municipalities are "functions related to local government, public administration and provision of public services defined by the Constitution and attributed to municipalities by this and other laws". The processes of integration into international organizations - like the EU and NATO - are considered to be important external factors influencing the development of municipal powers in the country. Lithuania, which has become a member of these organizations, has been assigned completely new responsibilities, some of which, naturally, also belonged to municipalities. In the case of EU integration, municipalities have been assigned the necessary information supply to the European Commission, and in the case of integration into NATO, municipalities have had new functions related to security issues. A map divided into ten sections all filled in with a different colour and further subdivided into subsections

1 – Vilnius City Municipality 2 – Kaunas City Municipality 3 – Klaipėda City Municipality

4 – Panevėžys City Municipality 5 – Šiauliai City Municipality 6 – Alytus City Municipality

7 – Birštonas Municipality 8 – Palanga City Municipality 9 – Visaginas Municipality 10 – Neringa Municipality

Municipalities

As of January 1, 2024. Template:Static row numbersTemplate:Table alignmentTemplate:Mw-datatable

Municipality		Capital	County	Region	Area	Populations	Density
A coat of arms depicting orange tools on a white background on the top and an orange sun on a dark green background on the bottom	Akmenė District Municipality	Naujoji Akmenė	Šiauliai	Žemaitija		19,126
A coat of arms depicting orange tools on a white background on the top and an orange sun on a dark green background on the bottom	Alytus City Municipality	Alytus	Alytus	Dzūkija		51,351
A coat of arms depicting three flowers that have red petals, green stalks, and green leaves all sprouting from green earth	Alytus District Municipality	Alytus	Alytus	Dzūkija		25,464
A coat of arms depicting a brown bridge rising up out of a blue body of water into a blue sky with white clouds	Anykščiai District Municipality	Anykščiai	Utena	Aukštaitija		22,372
A coat of arms depicting a sea creature with sharp teeth, one protruding bottom tooth, and a blowhole spewing water	Birštonas Municipality	Birštonas	Kaunas	Dzūkija		4,087
A coat of arms depicting a white flag with a black bird on it with a yellow beak and yellow claws all on a yellow background	Biržai District Municipality	Biržai	Panevėžys	Aukštaitija		22,111
A coat of arms depicting three golden crowns with five spikes protruding from their tops all on a blue background	Druskininkai Municipality	Druskininkai	Alytus	Dzūkija		20,103
A coat of arms depicting three yellow, diagonal lines zig-zagging from the bottom left to the top right on a grey background	Elektrėnai Municipality	Elektrėnai	Vilnius	Dzūkija		24,745
A coat of arms depicting three white flowers lined up vertically with four yellow seeds surrounding each all on a blue background	Ignalina District Municipality	Ignalina	Utena	Aukštaitija		13,814
A coat of arms depicting a white bird with wings outspread, a red beak, and red feet all on a dark blue background	Jonava District Municipality	Jonava	Kaunas	Aukštaitija		41,489
A coat of arms depicting an angel in full body armour and wings outspread while standing on a green dragon with a twisted tail	Joniškis District Municipality	Joniškis	Šiauliai	Aukštaitija		20,289
A coat of arms depicting three grey fleurs-de-lis, two directly across from each other at the top and one on the bottom, all on a red background	Jurbarkas District Municipality	Jurbarkas	Tauragė	Žemaitija		25,443
A coat of arms depicting four grey horses with red eyes galloping both to the left and to the right all on a black background	Kaišiadorys District Municipality	Kaišiadorys	Kaunas	Aukštaitija		29,062
A coat of arms depicting a grey castle on a red background on the left and a blue eye in a yellow triangle on the right	Kalvarija Municipality	Kalvarija	Marijampolė	Suvalkija		9,734
A coat of arms depicting a white bull with an angry expression and a golden cross protruding from its head all on a red background	Kaunas City Municipality	Kaunas	Kaunas	Aukštaitija		304,198
A coat of arms depicting a grey bull's head with a golden cross protruding from the top all on a red crest on a blue background	Kaunas District Municipality	Kaunas	Kaunas	Aukštaitija		106,277
A coat of arms depicting six yellow stars in a diagonal line running from the bottom left to the top right all on a black background	Kazlų Rūda Municipality	Kazlų Rūda	Marijampolė	Suvalkija		10,835
A coat of arms depicting a black wing attached to a black tallon holding a white horseshoe attached to three yellow spurs	Kėdainiai District Municipality	Kėdainiai	Kaunas	Aukštaitija		45,923
A coat of arms depicting a white wheel on a light blue background at the top and three white leaves on a green background at the bottom	Kelmė District Municipality	Kelmė	Šiauliai	Žemaitija		24,347
A coat of arms depicting a golden castle with three turrets surrounded with four golden stars all on a red background	Klaipėda City Municipality	Klaipėda	Klaipėda	Prūsija		159,396
A coat of arms depicting a sword with a gold hilt and a silver blade penetrating a green wreath all on a red background	Klaipėda District Municipality	Klaipėda	Klaipėda	Prūsija		67,280
A coat of arms depicting a woman clothed in blue and brown wearing a golden crown and carrying a baby all on a grey background	Kretinga District Municipality	Kretinga	Klaipėda	Žemaitija		37,433
A coat of arms depicting a black, six-pointed star on a golden background on the bottom and grey swirls on a blue background on the top	Kupiškis District Municipality	Kupiškis	Panevėžys	Aukštaitija		15,765
A coat of arms depicting a golden moose with large antlers and a protruding red tongue hovering over three black keys	Lazdijai District Municipality	Lazdijai	Alytus	Dzūkija		17,201
A coat of arms depicting a man in full body armour riding a brown horse that is trampling a black dragon all on a yellow background	Marijampolė Municipality	Marijampolė	Marijampolė	Suvalkija		54,590
A coat of arms depicting a golden arrow with a zig-zag in the middle of it pulled back on a golden bow all on a blue background	Mažeikiai District Municipality	Mažeikiai	Telšiai	Žemaitija		51,909
A coat of arms depicting a golden key on a red background at the top and three blue birds on a white background at the bottom	Molėtai District Municipality	Molėtai	Utena	Aukštaitija		16,517
A coat of arms depicting a white "N" on a blue background at the bottom and a series of black and white shapes at the top	Neringa Municipality	Nida	Klaipėda	Prūsija		4,265
A coat of arms depicting a grey bird with a golden eye and wings outstretched holding a golden key all on a green background	Pagėgiai Municipality	Pagėgiai	Tauragė	Prūsija		7,059
A coat of arms depicting a yellow windmill on a red crest hovering over a black bridge all on a yellow background	Pakruojis District Municipality	Pakruojis	Šiauliai	Aukštaitija		17,870
A coat of arms depicting a circle for which the boundary is itself made up of beige circles all under a silver crown on a blue background	Palanga City Municipality	Palanga	Klaipėda	Žemaitija		18,066
A coat of arms depicting a red castle with black double doors, two black windows, and one central tower all standing on black ground	Panevėžys City Municipality	Panevėžys	Panevėžys	Aukštaitija		86,599
A coat of arms depicting two grey sheaves of wheat on a blue background at the top and a red plowshare on a grey background at the bottom	Panevėžys District Municipality	Panevėžys	Panevėžys	Aukštaitija		35,378
A coat of arms depicting the black head of a bull with a golden vine entangled in its black horns and a golden ring protruding from its nose	Pasvalys District Municipality	Pasvalys	Panevėžys	Aukštaitija		21,930
A coat of arms depicting the Eye of Providence with a blue iris encapsulated in a golden triangle surrounded in golden rays all on a blue background	Plungė District Municipality	Plungė	Telšiai	Žemaitija		33,042
A coat of arms depicting a man in full body armour riding a brown horse that is tramplinga green dragon spewing red flames from its mouth	Prienai District Municipality	Prienai	Kaunas	Suvalkija		24,675
A coat of arms depicting a silver horse that is rearing and neighing all on a dark green background bordered by a thin silver line	Radviliškis District Municipality	Radviliškis	Šiauliai	Aukštaitija		34,302
A coat of arms depicting a golden lynx with black spots, a red tongue, white teeth, and white claws standing on its back paws on green turf	Raseiniai District Municipality	Raseiniai	Kaunas	Žemaitija		29,769
A coat of arms depicting a golden lion holding a silver-bladed sword in its mouth with a golden hilt and standing on green turf all on a blue background	Rietavas Municipality	Rietavas	Telšiai	Žemaitija		7,115
A coat of arms divided into four sections, the top left and bottom right of which are red, the bottom left of which is blue, and the top right of which is golden	Rokiškis District Municipality	Rokiškis	Panevėžys	Aukštaitija		27,288
A coat of arms depicting a grey castle with three towers topped by crosses with a human head on the front door all on a blue background	Skuodas District Municipality	Skuodas	Klaipėda	Žemaitija		15,201
A coat of arms depicting two grey sheaves of wheat on a red background on the left and six black, curved lines on a grey background on the right	Šakiai District Municipality	Šakiai	Marijampolė	Suvalkija		25,603
A coat of arms depicting a golden key overlapping a silver key on a blue background at the top and three golden nuts on a red background on the bottom	Šalčininkai District Municipality	Šalčininkai	Vilnius	Dzūkija		29,888
A coat of arms depicting a black bear with a silver collar on a red background on the left and a blue eye in a grey triangle on the right	Šiauliai City Municipality	Šiauliai	Šiauliai	Žemaitija		110,461
A coat of arms depicting an angry, grey bear with yellow claws and a long, red tongue gripping a yellow axe in its paws all on a blue background	Šiauliai District Municipality	Šiauliai	Šiauliai	Žemaitija		40,565
A coat of arms depicting five red leaves in a straight, horizontal row on a grey background at the top and five grey leaves on a red background at the bottom	Šilalė District Municipality	Šilalė	Tauragė	Žemaitija		20,861
A coat of arms depicting a grey boat hovering over two partitions of grey water that are themselves hovering over a grey horn all on a green-and-black background	Šilutė District Municipality	Šilutė	Klaipėda	Prūsija		38,331
A coat of arms depicting a silver-bladed sword with a golden hilt standing erect between the silver antlers of a silver moose head	Širvintos District Municipality	Širvintos	Vilnius	Aukštaitija		14,668
A coat of arms depicting a silver fish swimming to the right on the top and another fish swimming to the left on the bottom all on a blue background	Švenčionys District Municipality	Švenčionys	Vilnius	Aukštaitija		21,795
A coat of arms depicting a rounded, silver horn hung up by a rounded, silver strap all on a solid red background bordered by a black line	Tauragė District Municipality	Tauragė	Tauragė	Žemaitija		37,215
A coat of arms depicting a bishop in brown robes with a brown mitre on his head surrounded by a golden halo looking at another man	Telšiai District Municipality	Telšiai	Telšiai	Žemaitija		38,852
A coat of arms depicting a man in full body armour holding a white spear in his right hand and a red-and-yellow shield in his left hand	Trakai District Municipality	Trakai	Vilnius	Dzūkija		34,595
A coat of arms depicting an open book with a red rose on one page and a red bull on the other all hovering over a red heart with a building in the background	Ukmergė District Municipality	Ukmergė	Vilnius	Aukštaitija		34,023
A coat of arms depicting a golden horseshoe hovering over a white, 8-point star all on a blue background bordered by a thin, black line	Utena District Municipality	Utena	Utena	Aukštaitija		39,671
A coat of arms depicting a golden scarab with wings and legs outstretched flying over six purple flowers all on a blue background	Varėna District Municipality	Varėna	Alytus	Dzūkija		20,082
A coat of arms depicting a large, red fleur-de-lis that has a horizontal symmetry axis all on a blue background bordered by a black line	Vilkaviškis District Municipality	Vilkaviškis	Marijampolė	Suvalkija		33,906
A coat of arms depicting a white man with a white cape holding a golden staff and giving a ride to a white, golden-haloed child on his shoulder	Vilnius City Municipality	Vilnius	Vilnius	Dzūkija		602,430
A coat of arms depicting a man in full body armour riding a black horse and carrying a white spear with a golden blade in his right hand	Vilnius District Municipality	Vilnius	Vilnius	Dzūkija		106,197
A coat of arms depicting a grey bird with a long, twisting neck, a yellow, pointy beak, and long yellow legs all on a dark blue background	Visaginas Municipality	Visaginas	Utena	Aukštaitija		19,584
A coat of arms depicting a grey animal with the body of a fish and the head of a deer on a blue background at the top and a sword on the bottom	Zarasai District Municipality	Zarasai	Utena	Aukštaitija		14,368

See also

• ISO 3166-2:LT

• Administrative divisions of Lithuania
• Counties (Lithuanian: singular – apskritis, plural – apskritys)
• Elderships (Lithuanian: plural – seniūnijos, singular – seniūnija).
• Seniūnaitija (sub-eldership)
• Cities (Lithuanian: plural – miestai, singular – miestas)
• Towns (Lithuanian: plural – miesteliai, singular – miestelis)

Notes and references

Notes

References