Lithuania Environment - 2024

Environment - current issues

water pollution; air pollution; deforestation; threatened animal and plant species; chemicals and waste materials released into the environment contaminate soil and groundwater; soil degradation and erosion

Environment - international agreements

party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Heavy Metals, Air Pollution-Multi-effect Protocol, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Air Pollution-Sulphur 85, Air Pollution-Sulphur 94, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Climate Change-Paris Agreement, Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 2006, Wetlands, Whaling

signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Climate

transitional, between maritime and continental; wet, moderate winters and summers

Land use

agricultural land: 44.8% (2018 est.)

arable land: 34.9% (2018 est.)

permanent crops: 0.5% (2018 est.)

permanent pasture: 9.4% (2018 est.)

forest: 34.6% (2018 est.)

other: 20.6% (2018 est.)

Urbanization

urban population: 68.7% of total population (2023)

rate of urbanization: -0.12% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)

Revenue from forest resources

0.31% of GDP (2018 est.)

Revenue from coal

0% of GDP (2018 est.)

Air pollutants

particulate matter emissions: 10.37 micrograms per cubic meter (2019 est.)

carbon dioxide emissions: 12.96 megatons (2016 est.)

methane emissions: 3.15 megatons (2020 est.)

Waste and recycling

municipal solid waste generated annually: 1.3 million tons (2015 est.)

municipal solid waste recycled annually: 297,960 tons (2015 est.)

percent of municipal solid waste recycled: 22.9% (2015 est.)

Major lakes (area sq km)

salt water lake(s): Curonian Lagoon (shared with Russia) - 1,620 sq km

Total water withdrawal

municipal: 140 million cubic meters (2020 est.)

industrial: 60 million cubic meters (2020 est.)

agricultural: 60 million cubic meters (2020 est.)

Total renewable water resources

24.5 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)