2,379 km 1.520-m gauge (271 km
electrified) narrow gauge: 33 km 0.750-m gauge (2001)

Highways: total: 59,178 km paved: 22,843 km unpaved: 36,335 km
(1998 est.)

Waterways: 300 km (perennially navigable)

Pipelines: crude oil 750 km; refined products 780 km; natural gas 560 km
(1992)

Ports and harbors: Liepaja, Riga, Ventspils

Merchant marine: total: 6 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 30,119
GRT/30,572 DWT note: includes some foreign-owned ships registered here
as a flag of convenience: Greece 3 (2002 est.) ships by type: cargo 1,
petroleum tanker 1, refrigerated cargo 4

Airports: 25 (2001)

Airports - with paved runways: 1 914 to 1,523 m: Airports - with
unpaved runways: 2 914 to 1,523 m: Military Latvia

Military branches: Ground Forces, Navy, Air and Air Defense Forces,
Border Guard, National Guard

Military manpower - military age: 18 years of age (2002 est.)

Military manpower - availability: males age 15-49: 591,592 (2002 est.)

Military manpower - fit for military service: males age 15-49: 464,843
(2002 est.)

Military manpower - reaching military age annually: males: 19,114
(2002 est.)

Military expenditures - dollar figure: $87 million (FY01)

Military expenditures - percent of GDP: 1.2% (FY01)

Transnational Issues Latvia

Disputes - international: the Russian Duma refuses to ratify boundary
delimitation treaty with Latvia; the Latvian Parliament has not ratified
its 1998 maritime boundary treaty with Lithuania, primarily due to
concerns over oil exploration rights

Illicit drugs: transshipment point for opiates and cannabis from Central
and Southwest Asia to Western Europe and Scandinavia and Latin American
cocaine and some synthetics from Western Europe to CIS

This page was last updated on 1 January 2002

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Lithuania

Introduction

Lithuania

Background: Independent between the two World Wars, Lithuania was annexed
by the USSR in 1940. On 11 March 1990, Lithuania became the first of
the Soviet republics to declare its independence, but this proclamation
was not generally recognized until September of 1991 (following the
abortive coup in Moscow). The last Russian troops withdrew in 1993.
Lithuania subsequently has restructured its economy for eventual
integration into Western European institutions.

Geography Lithuania

Location: Eastern Europe, bordering the Baltic Sea,