Other events in Baltic States

September 28 is the day of the founding of Vilnius, the present capital of Lithuania, which was founded by Gediminas, the Grand Duke of Lithuania. The legend says that Gediminas founded the city between the rivers Neris and Vilnele after a dream he had about a howling iron wolf – which represented the great history that was waiting for Vilnius, informs LETA/ELTA.

On the Gediminas Day, Statistics Lithuania decided to put Vilnius in numbers.

In early 2014, Vilnius city municipality had 539,700 residents who account for 18% of all residents in the country. A total of 64.4% of Vilnius residents were of working age, 19.3% – retired, while children under 16 accounted for 16.3% of Vilnius residents. The city had 298,000 female and 241,700 male residents.

Among other Lithuanian cities, Vilnius stands out with higher income of residents as an average monthly after-tax salary in Vilnius municipality's companies, institutions and organisations amounted to LTL 2,623 (EUR 760) in 2013, or LTL 391 (EUR 113) above Lithuania's average.

Being the country's cultural centre, Vilnius has a vibrant cultural life. Last year, there were 18 theatres in Vilnius which attracted a total of 656,500 visitors. There are also 23 museums which had 1.1 million visitors in 2013. Tourists from Belarus, Russia, Poland, Germany and Latvia have grown fond of Vilnius – a total of 867,100 guests used accommodation services in Vilnius municipality, of which 81% were foreign guests.

Vilnius is also Lithuania's centre of financial and economic potential as Vilnius County GDP in 2012 was LT 43.7 billion (EUR 12.6 billion) and accounted for 38.5% of the country's total GDP. The largest city of the country attracts 62% of total foreign direct investment in Lithuania.

In 2013, a total of 7.4 billion goods of Lithuanian origin, made in Vilnius, reached foreign countries: mostly plastic and wood products, furniture. A total of 16.6% of goods made in Vilnius were sold in Germany, 7.6% – in Russia, 6.8% – in Latvia.