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119-582: Municipalities are: 55°59′18″N 22°14′35″E  /  55.98833°N 22.24306°E  / 55.98833; 22.24306 This Telšiai County , Lithuania location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Lithuania This is an accepted version of this page – in Europe  (green & dark grey) – in the European Union  (green)  –  [ Legend ] Lithuania , officially

238-772: A high income , advanced economy , ranking 37th in the Human Development Index (HDI) and 19th in the World Happiness Report . Lithuania is a member of the European Union , the Council of Europe , the eurozone , the Nordic Investment Bank , the Schengen Agreement , NATO , and OECD . It also participates in the Nordic-Baltic Eight (NB8) regional co-operation format. The first known record of

357-411: A "new form of cost-benefit analysis" for government expenditures in which a "critical level of extra happiness" yielded by a project is established. It contemplates the prioritization of increasing happiness of the happy vs. reducing misery of the miserable, as well as the issues of discount rate (weight) for the happiness of future generations. It includes a technical annex with equations for calculating

476-451: A 2019 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 1.62/10, ranking it 162nd globally out of 172 countries. Lithuanian ecosystems include natural and semi-natural (forests, bogs , wetlands and meadows), and anthropogenic (agrarian and urban) ecosystems. Among natural ecosystems, forests are particularly important to Lithuania, covering 33% of the country's territory. Wetlands (raised bogs, fens , transitional mires, etc.) cover 7.9% of

595-458: A New Economic Paradigm, Bhutan's Gross National Happiness philosophy, the term's "convening and attention attracting power", and the asset in a "double usage of happiness" as an emotional report and life evaluation. Chapter 2, The Geography of Happiness is written by John F. Helliwell, Hailing Huang and Shun Wang. This chapter reports the happiness of nations measured by life evaluations. It includes color coded maps and an analysis of six factors

714-422: A corresponding original word with no suffix. A likely candidate is Lietā . Because many Baltic ethnonyms originated from hydronyms , linguists have searched for its origin among local hydronyms. Usually, such names evolved through the following process: hydronym → toponym → ethnonym . Lietava , a small river not far from Kernavė , the core area of the early Lithuanian state and a possible first capital of

833-782: A decisive Polish–Lithuanian victory in the Battle of Grunwald in 1410 and by concluding the Treaty of Melno in 1422. In the 15th century the strengthened Grand Duchy of Moscow renewed the Muscovite–Lithuanian Wars for the Lithuanian-controlled Eastern Orthodox territories. Due to the unsuccessful beginning of the Livonian War , loss of land to the Tsardom of Russia , and pressure by monarch Sigismund II Augustus ,

952-501: A five-year term and serving a maximum of two terms. The president oversees foreign affairs and national security, and is the commander-in-chief of the military. The president also appoints the prime minister and, on the latter's nomination, the rest of the cabinet, as well as a number of other top civil servants and the judges for all courts except the Constitutional Court. The current Lithuanian head of state, Gitanas Nausėda

1071-505: A fragmented multi-party system, with a number of small parties in which coalition governments are common. Ordinary elections to the Seimas take place on the second Sunday of October every four years. To be eligible for election, candidates must be at least 21 years old on the election day, not under allegiance to a foreign state and permanently reside in Lithuania. Persons serving or due to serve

1190-423: A nation that adopted gross national happiness instead of gross domestic product as their main development indicator. The first report outlined the state of world happiness, causes of happiness and misery, and policy implications highlighted by case studies. In 2013, the second World Happiness Report was issued, and in 2015 the third. Since 2016, it has been issued on an annual basis on 20 March, to coincide with

1309-964: A particular theme. The data used to rank countries in each report is drawn from the Gallup World Poll, as well as other sources such as the World Values Survey , in some of the reports. The Gallup World Poll questionnaire measures 14 areas within its core questions: (1) business & economic, (2) citizen engagement, (3) communications & technology, (4) diversity (social issues), (5) education & families, (6) emotions (well-being), (7) environment & energy, (8) food & shelter, (9) government and politics, (10) law & order (safety), (11) health, (12) religion & ethics, (13) transportation, and (14) work. The 2024 World Happiness Report focused on happiness at different stages of life. Chapter 3 presents global data on child and adolescent wellbeing, whereas Chapters 4 and 5 focus on older age, covering

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1428-527: A population of 2.88 million. Its capital and largest city is Vilnius . Other major cities are Kaunas , Klaipėda , Šiauliai and Panevėžys . Lithuanians belong to the ethnolinguistic group of the Balts and speak Lithuanian . For millennia, the southeastern shores of the Baltic Sea were inhabited by various Baltic tribes . In the 1230s, Lithuanian lands were united for the first time by Mindaugas , who formed

1547-663: A proper means of social progress and public policy."), citing the OECD Guidelines on Measuring Subjective Well-being, a referendum in the EU requiring member nations to measure happiness, and the success of the World Happiness reports (with readership at about 1.5 million), and the adoption of happiness by the government of the United Arab Emirates , and other areas. It sets an aspiration of the inclusion of subjective well-being into

1666-648: A resolution, featuring the aspiration for the restoration of Lithuania's sovereignty and military alliance with Germany and elected the Council of Lithuania . In 1918, the short-lived Kingdom of Lithuania was proclaimed; however on 16 February 1918 the Council of Lithuania adopted the Act of Independence of Lithuania which restored Lithuania as democratic republic with its capital in Vilnius and separated that state from all state relations that existed with other nations. In 1918–1920

1785-429: A sentence imposed by the court 65 days before the election are not eligible. Also, judges, citizens performing military service, and servicemen of professional military service and officials of statutory institutions and establishments may not stand for election. Homeland Union – Lithuanian Christian Democrats won the 2020 Lithuanian parliamentary elections and gained 50 of 141 seats in the parliament. In October 2020,

1904-755: A supporter of a close Polish–Lithuanian union, the Lithuanian nobility agreed to conclude the Union of Lublin in 1569 with the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland , which created a new federative Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth with a joint monarch (holding both titles of the King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania), but Lithuania remained a separate state from Poland with its own territory (~300 000 km2), coat of arms, management apparatus, laws, courts, seal, army, treasury, etc. After concluding

2023-563: Is felt everywhere almost equally by men and women, stress peaks in the Middle Ages, and women experience depression more than men. It finds that where older people are happier, there is a sense of social support, freedom to make life choices and generosity (and income does not factor in as heavily as these three factors). Chapter 4, How to Make Policy When Happiness is the Goal is written by Richard Layard and Gus O'Donnell . This chapter advocates for

2142-502: Is human nature to broadly define happiness and understand the connection between happiness and the common good , (2) that the current understanding of individuality is stripped of ties to the common good, and (3) that there is a need to restore the common good as central value for society. The chapter also proposes Catholic school teachings as a model for restoring the common good as a dominant value. Chapter 3, The Challenges of Public Happiness: An Historical-Methodological Reconstruction

2261-486: Is meant to be a bottom-up approach which emancipates respondents to evaluate their own wellbeing. In this context, the value of the Cantril Ladder is the fact that a respondent can self-anchor themselves based on their perspective. In the reports, experts in fields including economics , psychology , survey analysis, and national statistics , describe how measurements of well-being can be used effectively to assess

2380-413: Is not a lot of difference in life evaluations between men and women across nations or within ages in a nation (women have slightly higher life evaluations than men: 0.09 on a ten-point scale). It reports that overall happiness falls into a U shape with age on the x axis and happiness on the y, with the low point being middle age (45-50) for most nations (in some happiness does not go up much in later life, so

2499-527: Is not farmed, and acts as an ecological niche for weeds and invasive plant species. Habitat deterioration is occurring in regions with very productive and expensive lands as crop areas are expanded. Currently, 18.9% of all plant species, including 1.87% of all known fungi species and 31% of all known species of lichens, are listed in the Lithuanian Red Data Book . The list also contains 8% of all fish species. The wildlife populations have rebounded as

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2618-579: Is the Goal , (5) Neuroscience of Happiness , (6) Healthy Young Minds Transforming the Mental Health of Children, (7) Human Values, Civil Economy, and Subjective Well-being , and (8) Investing in Social Capital. Chapter 1, Setting the Stage is written by John F. Helliwell, Richard Layard and Jeffrey Sachs. This chapter celebrates the success of the happiness movement ("Happiness is increasingly considered

2737-469: Is the first year that the World Happiness Report ranks cities. The happiest city in the world is Helsinki , the capital of Finland . The report shows that the happiness ranking of cities is almost identical to that of the countries they are in. In 2020, the editorial team expanded and Jan-Emmanuel De Neve became a co-editor, joining John F. Helliwell , Richard Layard , Jeffrey D. Sachs , and

2856-691: Is the largest, Tauragnas is the deepest and Asveja is the longest lake in Lithuania. After a re-estimation of the boundaries of the continent of Europe in 1989, Jean-George Affholder, a scientist at the Institut Géographique National (French National Geographic Institute), determined that the geographic centre of Europe was in Lithuania, at 54°54′N 25°19′E  /  54.900°N 25.317°E  / 54.900; 25.317  ( Purnuškės (centre of gravity) ) , 26 kilometres (16 mi) north of Lithuania's capital city of Vilnius . Affholder accomplished this by calculating

2975-438: Is the second year that the World Happiness Report ranks cities. The happiest city in the world is Helsinki , the capital of Finland . The report shows that the happiness ranking of cities is almost identical to that of the countries they are in. The 2020 World Happiness Report, released on March 20, 2020, ranks 156 countries based on an average of three years of surveys between 2017 and 2019. The 2020 report especially focuses on

3094-564: Is valued less, and in poorer countries, people suffer in financial and time costs when they have children. Chapter 5, Multidimensional Well-Being in Contemporary Europe: Analysis of the Use of Self-Organizing Map Allied to SHARE Data is written by Mario Lucchini, Luca Crivelli and Sara della Bella. This chapter contains a study of well-being data from older European adults. It finds that this chapter's study results were consistent with

3213-535: Is written by Jeffrey Sachs. This chapter identifies ways that sustainable development indicators (economic, social and environmental factors) can be used to explain variations in happiness. It concludes with a report about an appeal to include subjective well-being indicators into the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) . Part Two 2016 Special Rome Edition was edited by Jeffrey Sacks, Leonardo Becchetti and Anthony Arnett. Chapter 1, Inside

3332-587: Is written by Luigino Bruni and Stefano Zemagni. This chapter contemplates Aristotelian concepts of happiness and virtue as they pertain to and support the findings in the World Happiness Reports regarding the impact of social support, trust in government, and equality of happiness. Chapter 4, The Geography of Parenthood and Well-Being. Do Children Make Us Happy, Where and Why ? is written by Luca Stanca. This chapter examines other research findings that children do not add happiness to parents. Using data from

3451-590: Is written by Richard Layard, This chapter argues for a revival of an ethical life and world, harkening to times when religious organizations were a dominant force. It calls on secular non-profit organizations to promote "ethical living in a way that provides inspiration, uplift, joy and mutual respect", and gives examples of implementation by a non-profit founded by Richard Layard, the chapter author, Action for Happiness, which offers online information from positive psychology and Buddhist teachings . Chapter 4, Happiness and Sustainable Development: Concepts and Evidence

3570-576: The 2023 NATO summit was held in Vilnius. Lithuania is located in the Baltic region of Europe and covers an area of 65,300 km (25,200 sq mi). It lies between latitudes 53° and 57° N , and mostly between longitudes 21° and 27° E (part of the Curonian Spit lies west of 21°). It has around 99 kilometres (61.5 mi) of sandy coastline, only about 38 kilometres (24 mi) of which face

3689-613: The French invasion of Russia has established the puppet Lithuanian Provisional Governing Commission to support his war efforts, however after Napoleon's defeat the Russian rule was reinstated in Lithuania. During the November Uprising (1830–1831) the Lithuanians and Poles jointly attempted to restore their statehoods, however the Russian victory resulted in stricter Russification measures:

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3808-528: The Gallup World Poll . As of March 2024, Finland has been ranked the happiest country in the world seven times in a row. In July 2011, the UN General Assembly adopted resolution 65/309 Happiness: Towards a Holistic Definition of Development inviting member countries to measure the happiness of their people and to use the data to help guide public policy. The first World Happiness Report

3927-618: The Kingdom of Lithuania on 6 July 1253. Subsequent expansion and consolidation resulted in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania , which by the 14th century was the largest country in Europe. In 1386, the Grand Duchy entered into a de facto personal union with the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland . The two realms were united into the bi-confederal Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1569, forming one of

4046-475: The Lithuanian Gediminids dynasty began ruling Lithuania, who consolidated a hereditary monarchy and the status of Vilnius as permanent capital city , christianized Lithuania and by incorporating East Slavs ' territories (e.g. principalities of Minsk , Kyiv , Polotsk , Vitebsk , Smolensk , etc.) significantly expanded the Grand Duchy of Lithuania 's territory, which reached ~650,000 km2 in

4165-527: The Nemunas River basin occupying 74% of the territory of the country. Due to the construction of dams, approximately 70% of spawning sites of potential catadromous fish species have disappeared. In some cases, river and lake ecosystems continue to be impacted by anthropogenic eutrophication . Agricultural land comprises 54% of Lithuania's territory (roughly 70% of that is arable land and 30% meadows and pastures), approximately 400,000 ha of agricultural land

4284-449: The OECD . Dalia Grybauskaitė was the first female President of Lithuania (2009–2019) and the first to be re-elected for a second consecutive term. On 24 February 2022, Lithuania declared a state of emergency in response to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine . Together with seven other NATO member states, it invoked NATO Article 4 to hold consultations on security. On 11–12 July 2023,

4403-536: The Red Army was expelled from its territory, however in a few days Lithuania was occupied by Nazi Germany . In 1944 Lithuania was re-occupied by the Soviet Union and Soviet political repressions along with Soviet deportations from Lithuania resumed. Thousands of Lithuanian partisans and their supporters attempted to militarily restore independent Lithuania, but their resistance was eventually suppressed in 1953 by

4522-606: The Republic of Lithuania , is a country in the Baltic region of Europe . It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea , bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, Poland to the south, and the Russian semi-exclave of Kaliningrad Oblast to the southwest, with a maritime border with Sweden to the west. Lithuania covers an area of 65,300 km (25,200 sq mi), with

4641-532: The Russian language was introduced in all government institutions, Vilnius University was closed in 1832, and theories that Lithuania had been a "Western Russian" state since its establishment were propagated. Subsequently, the Lithuanians once again tried to restore statehood by participating in the January Uprising (1863–1864), but yet another Russian victory resulted in even stronger Russification policies with

4760-513: The Soviet authorities and their collaborators . Jonas Žemaitis , the chairman of the Union of Lithuanian Freedom Fighters , was captured and executed in 1954, his successor as chairman Adolfas Ramanauskas was brutally tortured and executed in 1957. Since the late 1980s Sąjūdis movement sought for the restoration of independent Lithuania and in 1989 the Baltic Way was held. On 11 March 1990,

4879-533: The Supreme Council announced the restoration of Lithuania's independence. Lithuania became the first Soviet-occupied state to announce the restitution of independence. On 20 April 1990, the Soviets imposed an economic blockade by ceasing to deliver supplies of raw materials to Lithuania. Not only domestic industry, but also the population started feeling the lack of fuel, essential goods, and even hot water. Although

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4998-474: The World Values Survey , it finds that, with the exception of widowed parents, having children has a negative effect on life satisfaction for parents in 2/3 of the 105 countries studied, with parents in richer countries suffering more. Once parents are old , life satisfaction increases. The chapter concludes that "existing evidence is not conclusive" and a statement that the causes for the low life satisfaction levels may be that for richer countries, having children

5117-708: The World War II concluded the Soviet–Lithuanian Mutual Assistance Treaty . In 1940 Lithuania has accepted the Soviet ultimatum and recovered the control of historical capital Vilnius, however the acceptance resulted in the Soviet occupation of Lithuania and its transformation into the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic . In 1941 during the June Uprising in Lithuania it was attempted to restore independent Lithuania and

5236-561: The centre of gravity of the geometrical figure of Europe. Lithuania has a temperate climate with both maritime and continental influences. It is defined as humid continental (Dfb) under the Köppen climate classification (but is close to oceanic in a narrow coastal zone). Average temperatures on the coast are −2.5 °C (27.5 °F) in January and 16 °C (61 °F) in July. In Vilnius,

5355-473: The new constitution . There were intense debates concerning the constitution, particularly the role of the president. A separate referendum was held on 23 May 1992 to gauge public opinion on the matter, and 41% of voters supported the restoration of the President of Lithuania . Through compromise, a semi-presidential system was agreed on. The Lithuanian head of state is the president, directly elected for

5474-564: The real union Lithuania and Poland jointly managed to reach military successes during the Livonian War, occupation of Moscow (1610), war with Sweden (1600–1611) , Smolensk war with Russia (1632–1634) , etc. In 1588, Sigismund III Vasa personally confirmed the Third Statute of Lithuania where it was stated that Lithuania and Poland have equal rights within the Commonwealth and ensured

5593-406: The renewable energy sources. In 2016, Lithuania introduced especially effective container deposit legislation , which resulted in collecting 92% of all packagings in 2017. Lithuania does not have high mountains and its landscape is dominated by blooming meadows, dense forests and fertile fields of cereals. However, it stands out by the abundance of hillforts , which previously had castles where

5712-621: The separation of powers . The real union strongly intensified the Polonization of Lithuania and Lithuanian nobility. The mid-17th century was marked with disastrous military loses for Lithuania as during the Deluge most of the territory of Lithuania was annexed by the Tsardom of Russia and even Lithuania's capital Vilnius was fully captured for the first time by a foreign army and ravaged. In 1655, Lithuania unilaterally seceded from Poland, declared

5831-571: The Żeligowski's Mutiny the Polish forces captured Vilnius Region and established a puppet state of the Republic of Central Lithuania , which in 1922 was incorporated into Poland. Consequently, Kaunas became the temporary capital of Lithuania where the Constituent Assembly of Lithuania was held and other primary Lithuanian institutions operated until 1940. In 1923, the Klaipėda Revolt

5950-458: The 1960s. A warming trend has persisted since then. Lithuania experienced a drought in 2002, causing forest and peat bog fires. After the restoration of Lithuania's independence in 1990, the Aplinkos apsaugos įstatymas (Environmental Protection Act) was adopted already in 1992. The law provided the foundations for regulating social relations in the field of environmental protection, established

6069-438: The 2015 Sustainable Development Goals (not fulfilled), and outlines the 2015 report. It also address the use of the term Happiness, identifying the cons (narrowness of the term, breath of the term, flakiness), and defining the use of the term for the reasons that the 2011 UN General Assembly Resolution 65/309 Happiness Towards A Holistic Approach to Development and April 2012 UN High Level Meeting: Well-being and Happiness: Defining

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6188-585: The Belarusian border in what became known as the Medininkai Massacre . On 17 September 1991, Lithuania was admitted to the United Nations . On 25 October 1992, citizens voted in a referendum to adopt the current constitution . On 14 February 1993, during the direct general elections, Algirdas Brazauskas became the first president after the restoration of independence. On 31 August 1993 the last units of

6307-592: The Life Satisfaction Blackbox is written by Leonardo Becchetti, Luisa Carrado, and Paolo Sama. This chapter proposes using quality of life measurements (a broader range of variables that life evaluation) in lieu of or in addition to overall life evaluations in future World Happiness Reports. Chapter 2, Human Flourishing, the Common Good, and Catholic Social Teaching is written by Anthony Annett. This chapter contains explanations for three theories: (1) It

6426-514: The Life Satisfaction Blackbox , (2) Human Flourishing, the Common Good, and Catholic Social Teaching , (3) The Challenges of Public Happiness: An Historical-Methodological Reconstruction , (4) The Geography of Parenthood and Well-Being: Do Children Make Us Happy, Where and Why? , and (5) Multidimensional Well-Being in Contemporary Europe: An Analysis of the Use of a Self-Organizing Map Applied to Share Data . Chapter 1, Setting

6545-533: The Lithuanians defended the statehood of Lithuania during the Lithuanian Wars of Independence with Bolsheviks , Bermontians and Poles . The aims of the newly restored Lithuania clashed with Józef Piłsudski 's plans to create a federation ( Intermarium ) in territories previously ruled by the Jagiellonians . The Lithuanian authorities prevented the 1919 Polish coup attempt in Lithuania and in 1920 during

6664-536: The Oxford Wellbeing Research Centre became a fourth research pillar for the report. Associate editors were Lara Aknin, Haifang Huang and Shun Wang, and Sharon Paculor was recognized as production editor. From 2020, Gallup became a full data partner. The 2019 World Happiness Report focuses community. According to the 2019 Happiness Report, Finland is the happiest country in the world, with Denmark , Norway , Iceland , and The Netherlands holding

6783-410: The Seimas, and the Chairman of the Supreme Court,. The unicameral Lithuanian parliament, the Seimas , has 141 members who are elected to four-year terms. 71 of the members of its members are elected in single-member constituencies, and the others in a nationwide vote by proportional representation . A party must receive at least 5% of the national vote to be eligible for any of the 70 national seats in

6902-442: The Seimas. Lithuania was one of the first countries in the world to grant women a right to vote in the elections. Lithuanian women were allowed to vote by the 1918 Constitution of Lithuania and used their newly granted right for the first time in 1919. By doing so, Lithuania allowed it earlier than such democratic countries as the United States (1920), France (1945), Greece (1952), Switzerland (1971). Lithuania exhibits

7021-415: The Soviet Union , then by Nazi Germany , before being reoccupied by the Soviets in 1944. Lithuanian armed resistance to the Soviet occupation lasted until the early 1950s. On 11 March 1990, a year before the formal dissolution of the Soviet Union , Lithuania became the first Soviet republic to break away when it proclaimed the restoration of its independence . Lithuania is a developed country with

7140-524: The Stage is written by John F. Helliwell, Richard Layard, and Jeffrey Sachs. This chapter briefly surveys the happiness movement ("Increasingly, happiness is considered to be the proper measure of social progress and the goal of public policy.") gives an overview of the 2016 reports and synopsis of both parts of the 2016 Update Rome Addition. Chapter 2, The Distribution of World Happiness is written by John F. Helliwell, Hailing Huang, and Shun Wang. This chapter reports happiness levels of countries and proposes

7259-523: The Swedish King Charles X Gustav as the Grand Duke of Lithuania and fell under the protection of the Swedish Empire . However, by 1657 Lithuania was once again a part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth following the Lithuanian revolt against the Swedes. Vilnius was recaptured from the Russians in 1661. In the second half of the 18th century the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was three times partitioned by three neighboring countries which completely dissoluted both independent Lithuania and Poland from

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7378-453: The UN's International Day of Happiness. The rankings of national happiness are based on a happiness measurement survey undertaken world-wide by the polling company Gallup, Inc . Nationally representative samples of respondents are asked to think of a ladder, with the best possible life for them being a 10, and the worst possible life being a 0. They are then asked to rate their own current lives on that 0 to 10 scale. The report correlates

7497-399: The World Happiness Report 2016 update: positive affect (feelings) have a stronger impact on a person's satisfaction with life than do negative affect (feelings). The 2015 World Happiness Report has eight chapters: (1) Setting the Stage , (2) The Geography of World Happiness , (3) How Does Subjective Well-being Vary Around the World by Gender and Age? , (4) How to Make Policy When Happiness

7616-407: The World Happiness Report has advocated for the use of WELLBYs (Well-Being-Adjusted Life-Years); it argues that QALYs only count the individual patient's health-related quality of life, and instead WELLBYs should be used. Policy-makers should aim to maximise the WELLBYs of all who are born, and also include the WELLBYs of future generations (subject to a small discount rate). Country rankings for

7735-445: The account for the differences: (1) social support in terms of someone to count on in times of need, (2) GDP per capita (income), (3) life expectancy (in terms of healthy years), (4) sense of corruption in government and business (trust), (5) perceived freedom to make life decisions, and (6) generosity. The first three factors were found to have the biggest impact on a population's happiness. Crisis ( natural disasters and economic crisis)

7854-457: The ancient Lithuanians burned altars for pagan gods. Lithuania is a particularly watered region with more than 3,000 lakes, mostly in the northeast. The country is also drained by numerous rivers, most notably the longest Nemunas . Lithuania is home to two terrestrial ecoregions: Central European mixed forests and Sarmatic mixed forests . Forest has long been one of the most important natural resources in Lithuania. Forests occupy one-third of

7973-486: The average temperatures are −6 °C (21 °F) in January and 17 °C (63 °F) in July. During the summer, 20 °C (68 °F) is common during the day, while 14 °C (57 °F) is common at night; in the past, temperatures have reached as high as 30 or 35 °C (86 or 95 °F). Some winters can be very cold. −20 °C (−4 °F) occurs almost every winter. Winter extremes are −34 °C (−29 °F) in coastal areas and −43 °C (−45 °F) in

8092-405: The basic rights and obligations of legal and natural persons in preserving the biodiversity inherent in Lithuania, ecological systems and the landscape. Lithuania agreed to cut carbon emissions by at least 20% of 1990 levels by 2020 and by at least 40% by 2030, together with all European Union members. Also, by 2020 at least 20% (27% by 2030) of the country's total energy consumption should be from

8211-417: The blockade lasted for 74 days, Lithuania did not renounce the declaration of independence. Gradually, economic relations were restored. However, tensions peaked again in January 1991. Attempts were made to carry out a coup using the Soviet Armed Forces , the Internal Army of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the USSR Committee for State Security ( KGB ). Because of the poor economic situation in Lithuania,

8330-408: The country's territory and timber-related industrial production accounts for almost 11% of industrial production in the country. Lithuania has five national parks , 30 regional parks , 402 nature reserves , 668 state-protected natural heritage objects. In 2018 Lithuania was ranked fifth, second to Sweden (first 3 places were not granted) in the Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI). It had

8449-412: The country, with 70% of wetlands having been lost due to drainage and peat extraction between 1960 and 1980. Changes in wetland plant communities resulted in the replacement of moss and grass communities by trees and shrubs, and fens not directly affected by land reclamation have become drier as a result of a drop in the water table. There are 29,000 rivers with a total length of 64,000 km in Lithuania,

8568-526: The east of Lithuania. The average annual precipitation is 800 mm (31.5 in) on the coast, 900 mm (35.4 in) in the Samogitia highlands, and 600 mm (23.6 in) in the eastern part of the country. Snow occurs every year, and it can snow from October to April. In some years, sleet can fall in September or May. The growing season lasts 202 days in the western part of the country and 169 days in

8687-424: The eastern part. Severe storms are rare in the eastern part of Lithuania but common in the coastal areas. The longest records of measured temperature in the Baltic area cover about 250 years. The data show warm periods during the latter half of the 18th century, and that the 19th century was a relatively cool period. An early 20th-century warming culminated in the 1930s, followed by a smaller cooling that lasted until

8806-475: The edge of the North European Plain . Its landscape was smoothed by the glaciers of the last ice age , and is a combination of moderate lowlands and highlands. Its highest point is Aukštojas Hill at 294 metres (965 ft) in the eastern part of the country. The terrain features numerous lakes ( Lake Vištytis , for example) and wetlands, and a mixed forest zone covers over 33% of the country. Drūkšiai

8925-404: The election day and reside in Lithuania for at least three years, in addition to satisfying the eligibility criteria for a member of the parliament. Same President may serve for not more than two terms. Gitanas Nausėda was elected as an independent candidate in 2019 and re-elected in 2024 . Each municipality in Lithuania is governed by a municipal council and a mayor , who is a member of

9044-409: The environment – social, urban, and natural, and includes links between happiness and sustainable development. Finland holds the rank of the happiest country in the world for the fourth consecutive year. It is followed by Denmark , Switzerland , Iceland and Netherlands . Afghanistan received the lowest score, with South Sudan and Rwanda just above it. In addition to country rankings, this

9163-406: The environment – social, urban, and natural, and includes links between happiness and sustainable development. Finland holds the rank of the happiest country in the world for the third consecutive year. It is followed by Denmark , Switzerland , Iceland and Norway . Afghanistan received the lowest score, with South Sudan and Zimbabwe just above it. In addition to country rankings, this

9282-421: The eventual Grand Duchy of Lithuania , is usually credited as the source of the name. However, the river is very small and some find it improbable that such a small and local object could have lent its name to an entire nation. On the other hand, such naming is not unprecedented in world history. Artūras Dubonis proposed another hypothesis, that Lietuva relates to the word leičiai (plural of leitis ). From

9401-513: The first half of the 14th century. At the end of the 14th century Lithuania was the largest country in Europe . In 1385, Lithuania formed a dynastic union with Poland through the Union of Krewo . Furthermore, in the late 14th–15th centuries patrilineal members of the Lithuanian ruling Gediminids dynasty ruled not only Lithuania and Poland, but Hungary , Croatia , Bohemia , and Moldavia . The German attacks on Lithuania were ceased with

9520-616: The forces in Moscow thought the coup d'état would receive strong public support. People flooded to Vilnius to defend the Supreme Council of the Republic of Lithuania and independence. The coup ended with a few casualties and material loss. The Soviet Army killed 14 people and injured hundreds. A large part of the Lithuanian population participated in the January Events . On 31 July 1991, Soviet paramilitaries killed 7 Lithuanian border guards on

9639-614: The former Soviet Army left Lithuania. On 31 May 2001, Lithuania joined the World Trade Organization (WTO). Since March 2004, Lithuania has been part of NATO . On 1 May 2004, it became a full member of the European Union , and a member of the Schengen Agreement in December 2007. On 1 January 2015, Lithuania joined the eurozone and adopted the European Union's single currency. On 4 July 2018, Lithuania officially joined

9758-471: The global rankings and calculates that bringing the social foundations from the lowest levels up to world average levels in 2014-2016 would increase life evaluations by almost two points. This means that social foundations effects are together larger than those of GDP per capita and healthy life expectancy. The third chapter focuses on economic growth and wellbeing in China, and shows that unemployment and changes in

9877-512: The greatest decrease. The chapter also considers how happiness has been affected by changes in the quality of government. The third chapter considers happiness and voting behaviour, with data suggesting that happier people are more likely to vote, and to vote for incumbents. The fourth chapter is an examination of happiness and pro-social behaviour, finding that people are more likely to derive happiness from helping others when they feel free to choose whether or how to help, when they feel connected to

9996-442: The hunting became more restricted and urbanization allowed replanting forests (forests already tripled in size since their lows). Currently, Lithuania has approximately 250,000 larger wild animals or 5 per each square kilometre. The most prolific large wild animal in every part of Lithuania is the roe deer , with 120,000 of them. They are followed by boars (55,000). Other ungulates are the deer (~22,000), fallow-deer (~21,000) and

10115-601: The importance of employment for happiness across the world. The final chapter uses happiness history over the past ten years, analysing the case of the United States through the lens of social foundations of happiness. The 2016 World Happiness Report -Rome Addition was issued in two parts as an update. Part one had four chapters: (1) Setting the Stage, (2) The Distribution of World Happiness , (3) Promoting Secular Ethics , and (4) Happiness and Sustainable Development: Concepts and Evidence . Part two has six chapters: (1) Inside

10234-399: The importance of the social foundations of happiness, which are analysed by comparing the life experiences between the top and bottom ten countries in the year’s happiness rankings. Norway topped the global happiness rankings in this report, jumping from fourth place in 2016 to first in 2017. It was followed by Denmark , Iceland and Switzerland . The second chapter of the report focuses on

10353-544: The introduction of the Lithuanian press ban , pressure of the Catholic Church in Lithuania and Mikhail Muravyov-Vilensky 's repressions. The Lithuanians resisted Russification through an extensive network of Lithuanian book smugglers , secret Lithuanian publishing and homeschooling. Moreover, the Lithuanian National Revival , inspired by Lithuanian history, language and culture, laid the foundations for

10472-466: The largest and most prosperous states in Europe. The Commonwealth lasted more than two centuries, until neighbouring countries gradually dismantled it between 1772 and 1795, with the Russian Empire annexing most of Lithuania's territory. Towards the end of World War I , Lithuania declared Independence in 1918, founding the modern Republic of Lithuania. In World War II , Lithuania was occupied by

10591-578: The largest one: moose (~7,000). Among the Lithuanian predators, foxes are the most common (~27,000). Wolves are, however, more ingrained into the mythology as there are just 800 in Lithuania. Even rarer are the lynxes (~200). The large animals mentioned above exclude the rabbit , ~200,000 of which may live in the Lithuanian forests. Since Lithuania declared the restoration of its independence on 11 March 1990, it has maintained strong democratic traditions. It held its first independent general elections on 25 October 1992, in which 56.75% of voters supported

10710-506: The life evaluation results with various life factors. The life factor variables used in the reports are reflective of determinants that explain national-level differences in life evaluations across research literature. However, certain variables, such as unemployment or inequality, are not considered because comparable data is not yet available across all countries. The variables used illustrate important correlations rather than causal estimates. The use of subjective measurements of wellbeing

10829-559: The links between wellbeing and dementia and a deep dive into the wellbeing of older people in India. The 2023 World Happiness Report was a triannual analysis of 2020–2022, heavily influenced by COVID-19 and other significant challenges. For the sixth consecutive year, Finland was ranked on top, followed by Denmark, Iceland, Israel and the Netherlands. In the top-10 rankings, Israel jumped five places, while Switzerland fell four places. Lithuania

10948-583: The local population and formed various Baltic tribes . The Baltic tribes did not maintain close cultural or political contacts with the Roman Empire , but they did maintain trade contacts via the amber road . From the 9th to the 11th centuries, coastal Balts were subjected to raids by the Vikings . The first written record of the name for the country dates back to 1009 AD. Facing the German threat , Mindaugas in

11067-556: The maximization for happiness in public expenditure , tax policy , regulations , the distribution of happiness and a discount rate. Chapter 5, Neuroscience of Happiness is written by Richard J. Dawson and Brianna S. Schuyler. This chapter reports on research in brain science and happiness, identifying four aspects that account for happiness: (1) sustained positive emotion, (2) recovery of negative emotion (resilience), (3) empathy , altruism and pro-social behavior, and (4) mindfulness (mind-wandering/affective sickness). It concludes that

11186-410: The mayor is elected directly by the majority of residents of the municipality. Social Democratic Party of Lithuania won most of the positions in the 2015 elections (372 municipal councils seats and 16 mayors). World Happiness Report The World Happiness Report is a publication that contains articles and rankings of national happiness , based on respondent ratings of their own lives, which

11305-488: The measure for affect (feelings), finding that positive affect (happiness, laughter, enjoyment) has much "large and highly significant impact" on life satisfaction than negative affect (worry, sadness, anger). The chapter also examines differences in happiness levels explained by the factors of (1) social support, (2) income, (3) healthy life, (4) trust in government and business, (5) perceived freedom to make life decisions and (6) generosity. Chapter 3, Promoting Secular Ethics

11424-556: The middle of the 13th century united a large part of the Baltic tribes and founded the State of Lithuania, while in 1253 he was crowned as the Catholic King of Lithuania . Moreover by taking advantage of the weakened territory of the former Kievan Rus' due to the Mongol invasion , Mindaugas incorporated Black Ruthenia into Lithuania. After Mindaugas' assassination in 1263, pagan Lithuania

11543-586: The middle of the 13th century, leičiai were a distinct warrior social group of the Lithuanian society subordinate to the Lithuanian ruler or the state itself. The word leičiai is used in 14–16th century historical sources as an ethnonym for Lithuanians (but not Samogitians ) and is still used, usually poetically or in historical contexts, in the Latvian language , which is closely related to Lithuanian. The history of Lithuania dates back to settlements founded about 10,000 years ago. The first people settled in

11662-450: The municipal council. The number of members, elected on a four-year term, in each municipal council depends on the size of the municipality and varies from 15 (in municipalities with fewer than 5,000 residents) to 51 (in municipalities with more than 500,000 residents). 1,524 municipal council members were elected in 2015. Members of the council, with the exception of the mayor, are elected using proportional representation. Starting with 2015,

11781-481: The name of Lithuania ( Lithuanian : Lietuva ) is in a 9 March 1009 story of Saint Bruno in the Quedlinburg Chronicle . The Chronicle recorded a Latinized form of the name Lietuva: Litua (pronounced [litua] ). Due to lack of reliable evidence, the true meaning of the name is unknown and scholars still debate it. There are a few plausible versions. Since Lietuva has a suffix (- uva ), there should be

11900-411: The next top positions. The second chapter of the report, 'Changing World Happiness', measures year-to-year changes in happiness across countries. For this, changes are reported from 2005-2008 to 2016-2018. Of the 132 countries with data for 2005-2008 and 2016-2018, 106 had significant changes: 64 were significant increases and 42 were significant decreases. Benin was the top gainer, while Venezuela showed

12019-554: The open Baltic Sea , less than the other two Baltic states. The rest of the coast is sheltered by the Curonian sand peninsula. Lithuania's major warm-water port , Klaipėda , lies at the narrow mouth of the Curonian Lagoon (Lithuanian: Kuršių marios ), a shallow lagoon extending south to Kaliningrad . The country's main and largest river, the Nemunas River , and some of its tributaries carry international shipping. Lithuania lies at

12138-462: The people they are helping, and when they can see how their help is making a difference. The final topic of the report, digital and information technologies and happiness, is covered in the remaining chapters. The editorial team for the 2019 report was expanded to include Lara Aknin as associate editor. The 2018 iteration was released on 20 March and focused on the relation between happiness and migration. The fifth World Happiness Report emphasizes

12257-580: The political map in 1795 after a failed Kościuszko Uprising and short-lived recapture of capital Vilnius in 1794. Most of Lithuania's territory was annexed by the Russian Empire , while Užnemunė  [ lt ] was annexed by Prussia . Following the annexation the Russian Tsarist authorities implemented Russification policies in Lithuania, which then made a part of a new administrative region Northwestern Krai . In 1812 Napoleon during

12376-466: The prime ministerial candidate of Homeland Union-Lithuanian Christian Democrats (TS-LKD) Ingrida Šimonytė formed a centre-right coalition with two liberal parties. The President of Lithuania is the head of state of the country, elected to a five-year term in a majority vote. Elections take place on the last Sunday no more than two months before the end of current presidential term. To be eligible for election, candidates must be at least 40 years old on

12495-488: The progress of nations, and other topics. Each report is organized by chapters that delve deeper into issues relating to happiness , including mental illness, the objective benefits of happiness, the importance of ethics, policy implications, and links with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) approach to measuring subjective well-being and other international and national efforts. From 2021

12614-817: The quality of governance, and social support were found to be the key drivers for changes in national happiness levels, with the happiness of nations undergoing a crisis in which people have a strong sense of social support falling less than nations where people do not have a strong sense of social support. Chapter 3, How Does Subjective Well-being Vary Around the Globe by Gender and Age? is written by Nicole Fortin , John F. Helliwell and Shun Wang. This chapter uses data for 12 experiences: happiness (the emotion), smiling or laughing, enjoyment, feeling safe at night, feeling well rested, and feeling interested, as well as anger, worry, sadness, depression, stress and pain to examine differences by gender and age. Findings reported include that there

12733-514: The reestablishment of an independent Lithuania. The Great Seimas of Vilnius was held in 1905 and its participants adopted resolutions which demanded a wide autonomy for Lithuania. During World War I the German Empire annexed Lithuanian territories from the Russian Empire and they became a part of Ober Ost . In 1907, the Lithuanians organized the Vilnius Conference which adopted

12852-732: The report also correlates with various (quality of) life factors. Since 2024, the report has been published by the Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford , in partnership with Gallup , the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network , and an independent editorial board. The editorial board consists of the three founding editors, John F. Helliwell , Richard Layard , and Jeffrey D. Sachs , along with Jan-Emmanuel De Neve , Lara Aknin , and Shun Wang. The report primarily uses data from

12971-674: The shape is more of a downhill slide), and that the U shape holds for feeling well rested in all regions. It finds that men generally feel safer at night than women but, when comparing countries, people in Latin America have the lowest sense of safety at night, while people in East Asia and Western Europe have the highest sense of safety at night. It also finds that as women age their sense of happiness declines and stress increases but worry decreases, as all people age their laughter, enjoyment and finding something of interest also declines, that anger

13090-491: The social safety nets explain both the post-1990 fall in happiness levels and the subsequent recovery since 2005. The fourth chapter discusses the reasons why countries in Africa are generally lagging behind others in life evaluations. The fifth chapter analyses key determinants of happiness, including income, mental health, and physical health. The sixth chapter considers the determinant of employment and work in particular, emphasising

13209-430: The territory of Lithuania after the last glacial period in the 10th millennium BC : Kunda , Neman and Narva cultures . They were traveling hunters. In the 8th millennium BC, the climate became warmer, and forests developed. The inhabitants of what is now Lithuania travelled less and engaged in local hunting, gathering and fresh-water fishing. The Indo-Europeans , who arrived in the 3rd – 2nd millennium BC, mixed with

13328-812: The use of inequalities of happiness among individuals as a better measure for inequality than income inequality , and that all people in a population fare better in terms of happiness when there is less inequality in happiness in their region. It includes data from the World Health Organization and World Development Indicators , as well as Gallup World Poll. It debunks the notion that people rapidly adapt to changes in life circumstances and quickly return to an initial life satisfaction baseline , finding instead that changes in life circumstances such as government policies , major life events ( unemployment , major disability ) and immigration change people's baseline life satisfaction levels. This chapter also addresses

13447-420: The world Happiness, Benevolence, and Trust During COVID-19 and Beyond . Among 146 countries ranked by the report, Afghanistan scores the lowest point of 2.523 and was ranked as the least 'happy' country in the world in 2022. The 2021 World Happiness Report, released on March 20, 2021, ranks 156 countries based on an average of three years of surveys between 2017 and 2019. The 2020 report especially focuses on

13566-572: The young and the old are quite different, and systematically so, underscoring the fact that convergence between the two halves of Europe has been driven mainly by the rising happiness of the young. Countries ranking highest for the old are generally countries with high overall rankings, but include several where the young have recently fared very poorly. The World Happiness Report has been published every year since 2012 (except for 2014). In addition to ranking countries’ happiness and well-being levels, each report has contributing authors and most focus on

13685-585: Was elected on 26 May 2019 by unanimously winning in all municipalities of Lithuania in the second election round. He was re-elected in 2024, winning more than 74% of the run-off votes. The judges of the Constitutional Court ( Konstitucinis Teismas ) serve nine-year terms. The court is renewed by a third every three years. The judges are appointed by the Seimas, on the nomination of the President, Chairman of

13804-695: Was again a target of the Christian crusades of the Teutonic Knights and Livonian Order . Traidenis during his reign (1269–1282) reunified all Lithuanian lands and achieved military successes against the Crusaders, fighting alongside other Baltic tribes, but was unable to militarily assist the Old Prussians in their Great Uprising . Traidenis' main residence was in Kernavė . From the late 13th century members of

13923-517: Was organized which unified the Klaipėda Region with Lithuania. The 1926 Lithuanian coup d'état replaced the democratically elected government and president with an authoritarian regime led by Antanas Smetona . In the late 1930s Lithuania has accepted the 1938 Polish ultimatum , 1939 German ultimatum and transferred the Klaipėda Region to Nazi Germany and following the beginning of

14042-499: Was released on 1 April 2012, as a foundational text for the UN High Level Meeting: Well-being and Happiness: Defining a New Economic Paradigm , drawing international attention. On 2 April 2012, this was followed by the first UN High Level Meeting called Wellbeing and Happiness: Defining a New Economic Paradigm , which was chaired by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and Prime Minister Jigmi Thinley of Bhutan ,

14161-431: Was the only new country in the top-20. The 2022 World Happiness Report included a section looking at possible genetic effects on individual happiness. Finland is in the top position in the world happiness report in 2022. Followed by Denmark and Iceland in second and third place. Switzerland , Netherlands , Luxembourg , Sweden , Norway , Israel and New Zealand , were among the top 10 'happiest' countries in

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