Lithuania vs. Belarus
Geography
| Lithuania | Belarus | |
|---|---|---|
| Location | Eastern Europe, bordering the Baltic Sea, between Latvia and Russia, west of Belarus | Eastern Europe, east of Poland |
| Geographic coordinates | 56 00 N, 24 00 E | 53 00 N, 28 00 E |
| Map references | Europe | Europe |
| Area | total: 65,300 sq km land: 62,680 sq km water: 2,620 sq km | total: 207,600 sq km land: 202,900 sq km water: 4,700 sq km |
| Area - comparative | slightly larger than West Virginia | slightly less than twice the size of Kentucky; slightly smaller than Kansas |
| Land boundaries | total: 1,545 km border countries (4): Belarus 640 km, Latvia 544 km, Poland 100 km, Russia (Kaliningrad) 261 km | total: 3,599 km border countries (5): Latvia 161 km, Lithuania 640 km, Poland 375 km, Russia 1312 km, Ukraine 1111 km |
| Coastline | 90 km | 0 km (landlocked) |
| Maritime claims | territorial sea: 12 nm | none (landlocked) |
| Climate | transitional, between maritime and continental; wet, moderate winters and summers | cold winters, cool and moist summers; transitional between continental and maritime |
| Terrain | lowland, many scattered small lakes, fertile soil | generally flat with much marshland |
| Elevation extremes | highest point: Aukstojas 294 m lowest point: Baltic Sea 0 m mean elevation: 110 m | highest point: Dzyarzhynskaya Hara 346 m lowest point: Nyoman River 90 m mean elevation: 160 m |
| Natural resources | peat, arable land, amber | timber, peat deposits, small quantities of oil and natural gas, granite, dolomitic limestone, marl, chalk, sand, gravel, clay |
| 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.) | agricultural land: 43.7% (2018 est.) arable land: 27.2% (2018 est.) permanent crops: 0.6% (2018 est.) permanent pasture: 15.9% (2018 est.) forest: 42.7% (2018 est.) other: 13.6% (2018 est.) |
| Irrigated land | 44 sq km (2012) | 1,140 sq km (2012) |
| Natural hazards | occasional floods, droughts | large tracts of marshy land |
| 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 | soil pollution from pesticide use; southern part of the country contaminated with fallout from 1986 nuclear reactor accident at Chornobyl' in northern Ukraine |
| 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 | party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Sulphur 85, Antarctic-Environmental Protection, Antarctic Treaty, 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, Marine Dumping-London Convention, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements |
| Geography - note | fertile central plains are separated by hilly uplands that are ancient glacial deposits | landlocked; glacial scouring accounts for the flatness of Belarusian terrain and for its 11,000 lakes |
| Total renewable water resources | 24.5 billion cubic meters (2017 est.) | 57.9 billion cubic meters (2017 est.) |
| Population distribution | fairly even population distribution throughout the country, but somewhat greater concentrations in the southern cities of Vilnius and Kaunas, and the western port of Klaipeda | a fairly even distribution throughout most of the country, with urban areas attracting larger and denser populations |
Source: CIA Factbook
