Utena County (Lithuanian: Utenos Apskritis) is one of ten counties in Lithuania. It is the country's most sparsely populated county. The capital and the largest city in the county is Utena, which is 95 km (59 mi) from Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. On 1 July 2010, the county administration was abolished.[3] Since that date, Utena County remains as the territorial and statistical unit. It borders Latvia.

Utena County
Utenos apskritis
Utena, the largest city in county
Utena, the largest city in county
Flag of Utena County
Coat of arms of Utena County
Location of Utena County
Location of Utena County
Country Lithuania
Administrative centreUtena
Municipalities
Area
 • Total7,191 km2 (2,776 sq mi)
 (11% of the area of Lithuania)
Population
 (2021-10-12)
 • Total130,613
 • Rank8th of 10 (6.0% of the population of Lithuania)
 • Density18/km2 (47/sq mi)
GDP
 • Total€1.7 billion (2022)
Time zoneUTC+2 (EET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+3 (EEST)
ISO 3166 codeLT-UT
HDI (2018)0.825[2]
very high · 8th
Map

History

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Utena is one of the oldest settlements in Lithuania and is mentioned in historical chronicles as early as in 1261.

Municipalities

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It is divided into six municipalities:

  Anykščiai District Municipality
  Ignalina District Municipality
  Molėtai District Municipality
  Utena District Municipality
  Visaginas Municipality
  Zarasai District Municipality

Economy

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The county has a well-developed network of roads. Main branches of economy are textile, food and timber processing, beer and wine production, power engineering.

Tourism

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Utena County is the second most popular tourism destination in Lithuania (after the seaside).[citation needed] Approximately 31% of territory is covered with forests. There are 1002 lakes in the county. They are connected by rivers and provide good opportunities for water tourism. One of the biggest tourism attractions is Aukštaitija National Park. In addition, the county has six other regional parks. There are a number of unique places of interest that can be found only in Utena county, e.g., Asveja, the longest lake in Lithuania and Lake Tauragnas, the deepest one; Horse Museum, Lithuanian Museum of Ancient Beekeeping, Lithuanian Museum of Ethnocosmology, narrow gauge railway, a burial mound exposition, an exhibition of stone dust pictures.

References

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  1. ^ "BENDRASIS VIDAUS PRODUKTAS PAGAL APSKRITIS 2022 M." osp.stat.gov.lt.
  2. ^ "Sub-national HDI - Area Database - Global Data Lab". hdi.globaldatalab.org. Retrieved 2018-09-13.
  3. ^ "Dėl apskričių viršininkų administracijų likvidavimo". Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania. Retrieved 21 August 2011.
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55°30′01″N 25°36′32″E / 55.50028°N 25.60889°E / 55.50028; 25.60889