FACTBOX: Lithuania country profile

(Reuters) - Here are some details about Lithuania, which is holding elections Sunday.

Economic worries may influence the election result. No party is expected to win a majority in the vote, leading to a new coalition government.

ECONOMY: President Valdas Adamkus said last month he was concerned about a widening of the budget deficit as the economy was slowing down, and called on the Social Democrat-led government to slash expenditure.

-- The economy grew 7 percent in the first quarter year-on-year, after expanding 8.8 percent for the full year 2007. Its growth slowed to 5 percent in the second quarter and economists predict that its economy could slow as much as that of neighbors Latvia and Estonia, which are in technical recession. The International Monetary Fund has forecast growth for Lithuania of just 0.7 percent in 2009.

The global financial crisis and credit crunch, which will hit export partners, is one of the reasons people fear a sharp economic slowdown.

ENERGY: Lithuania said this week it may have to defy the European Union and keep its Ignalina nuclear power plant open beyond 2009 if the EU cannot help it assure energy supplies.

-- Lithuania had agreed under its EU entry treaty to close Ignalina, which has the same kind of reactors as at Chernobyl. The Baltic state also wanted much higher carbon dioxide emissions allowances if it closes the plant.

The Social Democrat-led government has said Lithuania faces power shortages and increased reliance on Russian energy supplies after the power plant is shut down.

It has planned to build a new nuclear power station with Poland, Latvia and Estonia, but delays have set in amid squabbles over sharing the output and an opening data looks set to be delayed to 2017-2020 from the original 2015.

COUNTRY PROFILE:

GEOGRAPHY: AREA: 65,200 sq km. The southernmost of the three Baltic countries, Lithuania borders Latvia, Belarus, Poland and the Russian Kaliningrad enclave. Lithuania is a major road and rail transport hub for goods moving between Russia and Europe. Forests cover 32 percent of its land and 40 percent is farmland.

CAPITAL: Vilnius.

POPULATION: 3.36 million.

ETHNICITY: Ethnic Lithuanians are 83 percent, Russians 8 percent and Poles 7 percent. Other minorities include Belarusians and Ukrainians.

RELIGION: Nearly 80 percent of Lithuanians are Roman Catholics, with Protestant, Russian Orthodox and Jewish minorities.

LANGUAGE: Lithuanian is the official language; Russian and Polish are also spoken.

SOME HISTORY: The precursor to the modern republic, the 14th century Grand Duchy of Lithuania, was one of Europe's largest military empires, encompassing large tracts of present-day Poland, Belarus and Ukraine, and stretched from the Baltic to the Black Sea.

-- A resurgent Russia and incursions by Germanic states and Sweden reduced it to a province of Russia until it won independence in 1918. The Soviet occupation began after World War Two and ended with independence in 1991.