Utena County
Native nameUtenos apskritis
Iso codeLT-UT
P 1Anykščiai district municipality
P 2Ignalina district municipality
P 3Molėtai district municipality
P 4Utena district municipality
P 5Visaginas municipality
P 6Zarasai district municipality
Administrative centreUtena
Area total7,191 km²
Population total130613
Population as of2021-10-12
Population rank8th of 10 (6.0% of the population of Lithuania)
Total€1.8 billion (2023) · 9th
HDI (2022)0.837[1]
very high · 8th
Time zoneEET (UTC+2)
Time zone (DST)EEST (UTC+3)

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.[2] Since that date, Utena County remains as a territorial and statistical unit. It borders Latvia.

History

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

Municipalities

It is divided into six municipalities:

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

Economy

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

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

  1. ^ "Sub-national HDI - Area Database - Global Data Lab". hdi.globaldatalab.org. Retrieved 2018-09-13.
  2. ^ "Dėl apskričių viršininkų administracijų likvidavimo". Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania. Retrieved 21 August 2011.