Assessments

• Lithuania aims for forests to cover 35 percent of the country’s territory by 2030. At the current rate, Lithuania would only achieve this target around 2047 – almost two decades later than planned.
• Lithuania lags behind the European Union (EU) in terms of average forest cover: forests cover 33.91 percent of Lithuania’s territory, while the EU average is 39 percent.
• Lithuania’s forests are still dominated by single-age and single-species stands replanted after clear-cutting, which are less resilient to climate change, diseases and pests.
• The condition of most forest habitats remains unfavourable and continues to deteriorate, while strictly protected forests account for only 1.25 percent of the total forest area.
• The National Audit Office emphasises the need to accelerate the increase in forest cover, strengthen the protection of biodiversity and adopt long-term solutions that ensure a balance between the ecological and economic functions of forests.

Today, forests must be more than just a source of timber. They must help combat climate change, preserve biodiversity and, at the same time, remain vital to the country’s economy. A overview of the state and protection of forest resources carried out by the National Audit Office shows that Lithuania is currently facing systemic challenges which prevent it from ensuring a harmonious balance between ecological and economic functions.
  
“In Lithuania’s forestry policy, increasing forest cover and enhancing its resilience must go hand in hand. In pursuing ambitious forest cover targets, we must ensure that the forests we create are resilient to climate change, effectively protect biodiversity and, at the same time, generate long-term value for the state. This requires faster strategic decisions to help reconcile the objectives of nature conservation, climate change and the economy,” says Auditor General Irena Segalovičienė.

Lithuania’s forest cover is below the EU average
  
Lithuania’s forest cover is among the lowest in the Nordic region. In 2025, forests covered 33.91 percent of the country’s area (2,214,323 ha); the EU average is 39 percent, while in Latvia and Estonia forests cover more than half of the territory, and in Finland and Sweden – more than 60 percent.
  
Lithuania has set itself the goal of narrowing this gap. According to the National Progress Plan, forest cover was to reach 34 percent by 2025 and 35 percent by 2030, while the Seimas resolution on Forest Policy aims to increase Lithuania’s forest cover to 40 percent by 2050.

However, progress is lagging behind plans, and the current rate of forest expansion is insufficient. If forest cover continues to increase at the same average rate as over the past decade, the 35 percent threshold would only be reached around 2047 – almost two decades later than planned. Reaching 40 percent by 2050 is even more of a challenge.

Efforts to increase the country’s forest cover are constrained by the dwindling number of suitable areas, limited availability of free state-owned land, and declining engagement from private landowners.
  
Simply increasing forest area is not enough
  
The National Audit Office notes that the success of forest policy is determined not only by forest area, but also by their condition and resilience.
 
The European Forest Strategy emphasises that forests of varying ages and mixed species are more resilient to climate change. However, even-aged and monospecific stands still predominate in Lithuania – pine, spruce and birch forests account for around 73–74 percent of all forests, and no clear trends towards increased species diversity are observed. Single-age stands account for the largest share (61 percent), while stands comprising three or more age classes make up just 6 percent. This forest structure is also linked to current forestry practices – following clear-cutting, entire tracts of forest are replanted, resulting in the formation of single-age forests.
  
There are too few protected forests, and the state of biodiversity is poor
  
Although forests are the most important habitat for biodiversity, the condition of most protected forest habitats in Lithuania remains unfavourable. Compared with previous assessments, the condition of some of them has deteriorated further. The main reasons cited include forestry practices, the spread of invasive species and climate change.
  
There are still very few strictly protected forests in Lithuania. In 2025, protected forests accounted for just 1.25 percent of the total forest area, and over the past decade their share has increased by a mere 0.04 percentage points. Meanwhile, the EU Biodiversity Strategy stipulates that strict protection should be applied to at least 10 percent of the land area. To move closer to this target, the area of protected forests in Lithuania would need to be almost doubled – to approximately 68,000 ha.
  
The Natura 2000 network, which includes the most valuable habitats and species protected at European level, is also important for the protection of biodiversity. As early as 2022, the National Audit Office’s audit “Protection of Lithuanian Forest Resources” found that the Natura 2000 network in Lithuania did not cover a sufficient area – more than 100,000 ha of protected forest habitats should have been included in it, nor had clear conservation objectives for these areas been established. Although progress has been made in recent years, the problem remains unresolved to this day. In 2025, the European Commission noted that the Natura 2000 network in Lithuania was still lacking around 15,000 ha of forest habitats.
  
Balance between the economy and nature conservation – still not achieved
  
The forestry sector remains an important part of the Lithuanian economy – in 2024, it accounted for 3.63 percent of the country’s GDP and 6.7 percent of exports, while timber is vital to the furniture, construction and energy sectors.

However, over the past two decades, the proportion of commercial forests has increased from 71.4 percent to 75 percent – at the expense of other forest categories. Around one-fifth of commercial forests are located within protected areas, which in practice leads to conflicts between commercial activities and biodiversity conservation objectives.

The National Audit Office notes that, as commercial activities intensify, it is essential to ensure a balance between economic and ecological objectives, as the conservation status of most forest habitats remains unfavourable.
  
Changes are being held back by gaps in legislation and data

The overview shows that the necessary changes in the forestry sector are being held back by both protracted legislative processes and insufficiently reliable data. Amendments to the Law on Forestry remain unfinished, while the National Strategic Document for the Forestry Sector is still being drafted. In the National Audit Office’s view, this is leading to the postponement of important decisions relating to the use, protection and management of forests.

Forest accounting also poses problems. Due to delays in the inventory, 1.85 thousand ha of naturally regenerated forests had not yet been recorded in the State Forest Cadastre by 2024, and the data in the registers do not always reflect the actual situation. This not only distorts the statistics but also creates conditions for inappropriate decisions and abuse.

The overview notes that remote sensing, geoinformation and automated data analysis technologies are still underutilised in Lithuania, even though they would enable real-time monitoring of changes in forests and ensure more accurate accounting.

What the National Audit Office proposes

The National Audit Office emphasises that consistent legislative and policy decisions are essential. The most important of these are to adopt a National Strategic Document for the Forestry Sector and amendments to the Law on Forestry, and to ensure a long-term forestry policy that reconciles ecological and economic objectives.

It is also necessary to accelerate the increase in forest cover, strengthen the protection of biodiversity, develop forests that are more resilient to climate change, and ensure reliable forest accounting and monitoring.

As some of the recommendations from the 2022 public audit “Protection of Lithuanian Forest Resources” have not yet been implemented, and the challenges identified in this overview remain relevant, in 2026, the National Audit Office will launch an audit entitled “Protection of Biodiversity and Enhancing the Resilience of Forests to Climate Change”. This audit will assess whether the measures in place are helping to improve the condition of forest habitats, increase the resilience of forests to climate change and ensure the long-term conservation of forest resources.

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• Over the two years of the civil service reform, the average salary increased in nearly all municipal administrations - by about 11 percent annually - so this growth was more consistent than in national-level institutions, where it reached 15 percent in 2024 and 8 percent in 2025.
• The gap between the highest and lowest average salary in municipal administrations did not narrow; on the contrary, it increased by 60 euros from 2023 to 2025.
• The average salary remains highest in the administrations of large cities and resort municipalities, while in some small municipalities it still does not even reach 2,000 euros.

The civil service reform in the area of remuneration, which has been underway since 2024, aims to create a more competitive and flexible remuneration system. The “Overview of Changes in the Number of Employees and Salaries in Public Administration Institutions” conducted by the National Audit Office shows that, over the two years of the reform, salaries in municipal administrations (for both civil servants and employees under employment contracts) have grown more consistently than in national-level institutions. However, this growth did not reduce the salary disparities among the municipalities themselves.
  
“The civil service reform was intended to give institutions greater freedom in managing their remuneration systems and to enhance competitiveness by attracting and retaining the necessary skills. We see that salaries in municipal administrations have risen steadily, but the disparities between municipalities have not narrowed. Therefore, it is important to assess not only the overall growth in salaries, but also whether the available human resources management tools help address the needs of specific institutions—especially where salaries remain the lowest,” says Auditor General Irena Segalovičienė.
  
The highest average salaries in 2025 were found in the administrations of major cities and resort municipalities. For example, in the administrations of Vilnius City and Neringa Municipality, the average salary exceeded 3,5 thousand euros before taxes. Meanwhile, in some smaller municipalities - such as the Lazdijai and Šakiai district administrations - the average salary did not even reach 2,000 euros. It is important to note that the gap in average salaries between municipalities actually widened over the course of two years: in 2023 it was approximately 1,714 euros, and in 2025 - 1,774 euros.
  
Although the overall trend is positive—the number of administrations where the average salary was less than 2,000 euros has decreased from 31 (in 2023) to 8 (in 2025), while the number of those reaching or exceeding the 3,000-euro threshold has increased from 2 to 7 - municipal administrations with lower salaries continue to rank among the least competitive in terms of salaries. The overview shows that in some lower-paying municipal administrations, salaries grew faster than the average, but this was not enough to significantly change their position in the overall context of municipal remuneration.
  
For example, in 2023, the administrations with lowest average monthly salary - Ignalina (+40 percent), Joniškis (+30 percent), and Visaginas (+28 percent) - saw growth that exceeded the overall average for municipal administrations (22 percent), while growth in the Lazdijai District was slower (+18 percent). Nevertheless, in 2025, the lowest average salary remained in smaller municipalities, such as the Lazdijai District (1,826 euros), the Šakiai District (1,883 euros), and Visaginas (1,943 euros).
  
Data from the overview conducted by the National Audit Office shows that in municipalities, as in public administration institutions in general, no direct link was found between changes in the number of employees and salary growth. Salaries grew at a similar rate both in administrations where the number of employees decreased and in those where it increased. For example, in the Jonava District, the average salary rose by 37 percent while the number of employees fell by 10 percent; in the city of Klaipėda, the opposite was true—the average salary rose by 36 percent while the number of employees increased by 4 percent.
  
The data and results of the overview, presented in an interactive tool, allow for the analysis of trends in salaries and changes in the number of employees: Microsoft „Power BI“. 

• Salary growth in public administration institutions in 2025 was slower than in the first years of the civil service reform.
• In 2025, as throughout the entire 2023–2025 period, the official salaries of state politicians and civil servants grew the fastest, while judges—whose salaries had increased the most during the first year of the reform—saw the smallest growth.
• Although the growth for both groups of managerial positions was similar in the first year of the reform, in the second year, the salaries of managers employed under employment contracts increased more rapidly than those of managers in the civil service.
• Differences in remuneration within municipal administrations remained significant.

The latest “Overview of Changes in Public Administration Staff and Salaries” conducted by the National Audit Office, which assesses the goal of the civil service reform implemented since 2024 to create a more competitive pay system, shows that salaries in public administration institutions continued to rise, but changes in remuneration in 2025 were not as significant as in the first years of the reform.
  
During the first year of the reform (2023–2024), the rate of gross salary growth in public administration institutions reached 13 percent, outpacing that of the private sector (9 percent) and the national economy as a whole (10 percent). In the second year (2024–2025), salary growth continued but slowed to 8 percent, nearly matching the growth rates of other sectors. Over the entire 2023–2025 period, salaries in public administration institutions increased by about 21 percent—slightly more than in the private sector (about 18 percent) and the national economy as a whole (about 20 percent), but less than in the public sector as a whole (about 23 percent).
  
“Salary growth is just one part of the civil service reform, not the ultimate goal. I urge the responsible institutions to assess the actual results of the reform. We should evaluate them through the lens of public administration efficiency—whether the system is becoming more attractive to professionals as salaries rise, whether the government apparatus is operating more flexibly, and whether citizens are receiving higher-quality services,” says Auditor General Irena Segalovičienė.
  
For many institutions, the most significant jump in the average salary was the change over a single year
  
Although salary growth in public administration institutions has continued into the second year of the civil service reform, the number of institutions able to afford rapid salary increases has dropped significantly. In the first year, average salaries increased by more than 15 percent in as many as 172 state-level institutions, while in the second year, only 55 out of 495 state-level institutions remained in this category. In both years, only 27 institutions maintained this rate of growth, mostly institutions in the field of education and science. The courts group also shows that the largest change in salaries occurred in the first year of the reform: in 2024, the average salary in institutions classified as part of the courts group increased by 19 percent, and in 2025, by 3 percent.
  
The salary gap in municipalities is not narrowing
  
An analysis of the situation in municipalities shows that, over the two years of the reform, salaries in their administrations have grown more consistently than in major state institutions; however, the salary gap between municipalities has not narrowed over the two years and has remained virtually unchanged. Large cities and resorts, such as Vilnius or Neringa, clearly dominate here, where the average monthly salary exceeded the 3,500-euro mark, while in the administrations of smaller municipalities, such as Lazdijai or Šakiai District, the average monthly salary did not even reach 2,000 euros.
  
The increase in manager remuneration aligns with the goals of the reform, while that of specialists remains the slowest
  
An analysis of job categories shows that the reform’s goal of strengthening the management cadre is best reflected in the growth of base salaries for employees in managerial positions. This need for growth was partly driven by the fact that, prior to the reform, the salaries of public administration managers were linked to a competitiveness issue. In 2025, state politicians and civil servants stood out with the largest increase in remuneration – 16 percent – and over the entire period, the base salary for this group also grew the fastest – 47 percent. In the group of judges, the main jump occurred in the first year of the reform, when the official salary increased by a 30 percent, while in 2025 the increase was negligible—2 percent.
  
In the second year of the reform, differing growth rates became apparent among managerial positions: the base salary of managers employed under employment contracts increased more rapidly than that of civil servants in managerial positions. In 2025, the base salary of managers employed under employment contracts rose by 13 percent, while that of civil servant managers rose by 8 percent. In the first year of the reform, growth for both groups was similar—around 15 percent.
  
Meanwhile, for advisors and specialists, base salaries increased by about 6 percent in the second year, and their growth remained the slowest. The average number of employees in all these job groups remained stable during both years of the reform and did not change significantly.
  
The data and results of the overview, presented in an interactive tool, allow for the analysis of information and the assessment of trends in changes in salaries and the number of employees: Microsoft “Power BI“