Lithuania

· Country Name: Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic
· Year Founded: in 1236
· Population: 3,555,179
· Primary Language: Lithuanian
· Ethnic Make-up: Lithuanian 83.4%, Polish 6.7%, Russian 6.3%, other or unspecified 3.6%
· Political System: Parliamentary democracy
· Year Entered the European Union: 2004
· Representative of the European Union (include party): Laima Liucija Andrikienė; Group of the European People's Party (Christian Democrats) and European Democrats
· Type of Economy: capitalist free market
· Currency: Lithuanian litas
· Current Exchange rate for American Currency: 1 Lita = 0.391190 USD
· GDP: Grew by 7.5%
· Percentage of Trade within the European Union: 60.3% imports, 57.3% exports
· Unemployment Rate: 4.3%
· Chief Exports: mineral products (25%), electrical machinery and mechanical equipment (10.6%), chemical products (9.7%) and transport vehicles and associated transport equipment (8.6%).
· Key Imports: mineral products (29.7%), electrical machinery and mechanical equipment (14.2%), transport vehicles and associated transport equipment (12.1%) and chemical products (9%).
· Major Religions: Roman Catholic 79%, Russian Orthodox 4.1%, Protestant (including Lutheran and Evangelical Christian Baptist) 1.9%, other or unspecified 5.5%, none 9.5%
· Surrounding Countries: Belarus 680 km, Latvia 576 km, Poland 91 km, Russia (Kaliningrad) 227 km
· Literacy Rate: total population: 99.6%
· One Interesting Fact: Lithuania is expecting to switch to the Euro on January 1, 2013. Lithuania has the highest rating of Baltic states in the Economist Intelligence Unit’s quality of life index.