Lietuva in brief

Results of a poll commissioned by the Ministry of Defense show that the majority of Lithuanian citizens, 68 percent, agree to a permanent NATO presence in Lithuania, reports ELTA. The vast majority, 85 percent, completely or partially agree that deployment of NATO troops in the Baltic region increases Lithuania’s security. The poll also confirmed that Lithuania’s NATO membership is supported by the vast majority of the population, 83 percent. Compared to a similar survey in 2013, the number of respondents who assess NATO membership very favorably has more than doubled, from 12 to 25.7 percent. The total number of supportive respondents grew by more than 12 percent year-on-year, from 70 percent to 82.5 percent. 1,010 people aged 18-75 were polled. The poll was carried out throughout Lithuania in 65 randomly chosen localities. It was sought to assess opinion changes taking into account the security situation in Ukraine.

The Parliament adopted amendments to the Law on Passports on July 10 allowing for including a record about ethnicity in a passport after submitting a written application, reports ELTA. Fifty-six members of Parliament voted for the amendments, 11 voted against with 24 abstentions. Changes to the law initiated by member of Parliament Mecislovas Zasciurinskas will take effect on Jan. 1, 2015. Passports issued before this date will not be subject to this regulation.

Facebook remains the most popular social network in Lithuania, with 68 percent of all Internet users in the country, while 46 percent of users use it every day, a social media user survey reveals, reports ELTA. The most popular Web site is the Youtube channel with more than 77 percent of total Internet users in Lithuania; however, the involvement of users is lower and is usually used not for the communication purposes. Thirty-five percent of users check in Youtube on a daily basis. Behind Facebook and Youtube is Google+ with 27 percent of users. Eight percent of Internet users in Lithuania check in on it on a daily basis. Lithuanian social networks One.lt and Draugas.lt also are included in the top five social networks; however, the number of their users keeps steadily declining year after year. One.lt has 21 percent and Draugas.lt has 15 percent of all Lithuanian Internet users. Only about 1 percent of users check in on these platforms on a daily basis. Among other platforms used in Lithuania is Twitter with 7 percent of users, LinkedIn with 6 percent, with the rest of the social networks such as Instagram, Pinterest, Spotify and Tumblr having from 3 to 6 percent of all Internet users in the country. The survey was conducted by TNS LT from February-April 2014 by personal interviews with 1,898 Lithuanian residents aged 15-74.