Forests, fields and built-up land in Lithuania

Forest and farmland split the map

Municipalities fall into two broad families. In the median municipality, farmland covers 58.9% of the surface and forest 28.0%, but behind that typical profile lie places where trees dominate and places where they almost disappear.

Forest is concentrated in a few places. The two most forested municipalities, Druskininkai Municipality and Varėna District Municipality, are both in Alytus County, with 67.4% and 62.6% of their surface under trees. Neringa Municipality is also heavily wooded, at 57.0%, even though natural open land covers 40.2% of it.

Farmland has the opposite profile. Vilkaviškis District Municipality and Kalvarija Municipality, both in Marijampolė County, devote 84.3% and 82.6% of their land to fields, orchards and pastures. Trees are scarce in such places: Vilkaviškis District Municipality keeps only 9.3% of its surface as forest, far below the median of 28.0%.

Water and wetlands matter in only a few places. The highest share of water surfaces, 18.8%, is found in Šilutė District Municipality, and the highest share of marshes and peat bogs, 2.9%, in Šilutė District Municipality, whereas the median municipality has only 1.1% of water surface and 0.6% of wetland.

Built surface is concentrated in the cities

In the typical municipality, artificial surfaces cover just 2.8% of the land, so the cities form a separate case. Kaunas City Municipality has 74.1% of artificial surface, and the figure below shows that the highest shares belong to compact urban territories.

The capital is an exception among the big cities. Vilnius City Municipality has 40.5% of artificial surface but still 31.1% of forest, a share above the median of 28.0%, which reflects a territory of 401.0 km² that takes in woodland as well as housing. By contrast, Kaunas City Municipality has 4.3% of forest and Panevėžys City Municipality only 1.5%. Water is not negligible in the cities either: Šiauliai City Municipality has 16.5% of water surfaces within its borders.

Soil sealing shows the same split in finer detail. Panevėžys City Municipality has the highest average imperviousness density, at 23.8%, while the median municipality stays at 0.7%.

Rural municipalities carry more built surface per resident

Built-up surface per inhabitant reverses the picture. In the cities, Kaunas City Municipality has 81 m²/inh. and Klaipėda City Municipality has 73 m²/inh., whereas the figure reaches 347 m²/inh. in Alytus District Municipality and 344 m²/inh. in Ignalina District Municipality, two rural municipalities. In the national ranking, Vilnius City Municipality stands at 68 m²/inh., while Molėtai District Municipality reaches 380 m²/inh., a very wide gap.

The national figure, 166 m²/inh., is lower than the median of 245 m²/inh., because the big cities weigh heavily in the national total while most municipalities are sparsely populated. The share of land area that is built-up tells the same story: nationally it reaches 0.7%, yet the median municipality has only 0.6%.

A likely reading is that villages, farm buildings and local roads are spread over few residents in the countryside, while apartment blocks house many people on little ground in the cities. Buildings put up for a larger population may also now serve fewer people.

Built-up land keeps growing, even where people leave

Built-up surface has expanded in many municipalities: in the median municipality it is 68% larger than in 1975 and 21% larger than in 2000.

The pace differs widely between places. Druskininkai Municipality, Kaunas District Municipality and Klaipėda District Municipality record increases of 42%, 41% and 41% since 2000, against a median of 21%. Over the longer span since 1975, the largest increase, 121%, belongs to Druskininkai Municipality, against a median of 68%.

Around the big cities, building went with population growth. The population of Kaunas District Municipality changed by +26.6% over ten years, and that of Klaipėda District Municipality by +36.7%. Their built-up surface also expanded, by 41% and 41% since 2000, among the highest rates in the country.

Elsewhere, buildings kept spreading while residents left. Šakiai District Municipality saw its population change by −18.1% over ten years. Its built-up surface still expanded by 31% since 2000. The population of Vilkaviškis District Municipality changed by −16.0% and that of Kalvarija Municipality by −16.8%. The same combination appears there, with built-up increases of 28% and 26% since 2000.

Reading the shares with care

The land-cover shares refer to 2018 and the built-up figures to 2020, so the two groups of indicators should not be added together. Each share is also a share of the whole surface, water included.

Territory size matters as well. City municipalities cover small areas, with 45.0 km² for Alytus City Municipality, and their shares describe a built-up core. District municipalities cover large areas of mixed land, which is why a high share of artificial surface is rare outside the cities.

Definitions also change the level. Kaunas City Municipality has 74.1% of artificial surface, which includes roads, industry and urban green space, yet only 15.1% of its land area counts as built-up in the measure used for the growth figures, which looks at built surface alone. Both views are useful, but they answer slightly different questions.