Quality of life index – which municipalities have the best situation in 2022

On the website managed by the Ministry of Finance Lietuvosfinansai.lt the municipal quality of life index (GKI) is presented, supplemented in 2022. data. To the TOP five municipalities in terms of overall quality of life in 2022. the municipality of Birštonas returned, having displaced Neringa from it, and the city of Klaipėda rose to the 3rd position, exchanging places with Kaunas district. The first two places remained the same – the city of Vilnius and the city of Kaunas.

GKI consists of 40 indicators* in 6 areas: material living conditions; population entrepreneurship and business competitiveness; health services; educational services; demography, civic and social activism; public infrastructure, quality and safety of the living environment. Using GKI, it is possible to see the overall assessment of each municipality, individual areas and indicators, compare municipalities with each other or observe changes in 2013-2022.

*Note. In order to more accurately reflect the quality of life in municipalities, in 2024 changes were made to GKI, updating the 2022 data: the indicator was dropped from the sub-index “Public infrastructure, quality and safety of the living environment” The share of polluted (untreated) and insufficiently treated agricultural, domestic and production wastewater released into surface waters in the total wastewater flow due to its reduced relevance.

TOP 5 municipalities according to the highest GKI and sub-indices

in 2022 the first GKI place was Vilnius. municipality with an index reaching 1.0014, when the national average was 0.58. Compared to 2021 according to the data, almost the same municipalities remained in the TOP 5, only the Birštonas municipality, which last entered the TOP 5 in 2018, added to the ranks of the leaders. in 2022 The city of Kaunas remained in 2nd place. municipality (0.797), 3rd – Klaipėda city. (0.779), 4th – Kaunas district. (0.774) (Klaipėda city and Kaunas district swapped places) and in 5th place – Birštonas municipality, which rose from 7th position (0.74) (Neringa municipality was in this position instead).

When evaluating municipalities according to individual areas, municipalities occupying lower positions are also among the leaders. Material living conditions in 2022 the best were: 1st place – Vilnius (0.375), 2nd place – Kaunas district. (0.35), 3rd place – Kaunas. (0.339), 4th place – Vilnius district. (0.328), 5th place – Birštonas municipality (0.32), rising from 7th position. in 2021 municipalities according to this sub-index were ranked as follows: Vilnius m. (0.396), Kaunas district. (0.355), Kaunas. (0.351), Klaipėda district. (0.338) and Vilnius district. (0.337).

According to population entrepreneurship and business competitiveness sub-index values ​​1st place since 2013. stably continues to occupy Vilnius city. (0.3) municipality, followed by Mažeikiai r. (0.216), Klaipėda city. (0.172), Neringa (0.156) and Kaunas. (0.154) municipalities. in 2021 municipalities according to this sub-index were ranked as follows: Vilnius m. (0.314), Klaipėda city. (0.178), Neringa (0.16), Kaunas. (0.152) and Mažeikiai district. (0.143).

According to health services Palanga city leads the sub-index values ​​for the second year in a row. (0.093) municipality, followed by Šiauliai. (0.074), Kaunas. (0.074), Klaipėda city. (0.072), Panevėžys city. (0.072) municipalities. The latter displaced the city of Vilnius from the leaders, which in 2022 takes the 7th position. in 2021 according to this sub-index, the municipalities ranked as follows: Palanga city (0.088), Kaunas city (0.079), Šiauliai city. (0.072), Klaipėda city. (0.071) and Vilnius city. (0.068);

According to educational services sub-index values ​​in Kaunas. (0.0638) takes 1st place, will continue to rank in 2021. Pakruojo district, which took 11th place in this area. (0.0627) municipality, in 3rd place – Marijampolė (0.0608), which rose from 7th position, in 4th place – Birštonas (0.0599), which rose from 6th position, and in 5th place – Vilnius, which fell from 1st position. (0.0598). in 2021 municipalities according to this sub-index were ranked as follows: Vilnius m. (0.067), Kaunas. (0.067), Panevėžys city. (0.059), Klaipėda city. (0.059), Palanga city. (0.058).

According to demography, civic and social activity The sub-index values ​​of municipalities are ranked as follows: Neringa municipality, which maintains the leading position for the second year in a row (0.1367), Kaunas r. (0.1197), Vilnius district. (0.117), Trakai district. (0.1112), Vilnius city. (0.1037). in 2021 according to this sub-index, the municipalities ranked as follows: Neringa (0.131), Kaunas r. (0.105), Klaipėda district. (0.103), Vilnius district. (0.092) and Trakai district. (0.086).

According to public infrastructure, quality and safety of the living environment sub-index values ​​from 2014 Neringa municipality is leading (0.1328), Birštonas – in 2nd place (0.1285), Druskininkai – in 3rd place (0.101), in 4th place – Rietava, which rose from 10th place (0.0937), in 5th place – Klaipėda city, which rose from 6th position (0.0929). in 2021 according to this sub-index, the municipalities ranked as follows: Neringa (0.138), Birštonas (0.124), Druskininkai (0.105), Joniškios r. (0.091), Alytus city. (0.089).

Municipalities with the lowest GKI and sub-indices

The lowest overall quality of life GPI in 2022. was determined in Skuodas r. (0.452) in the municipality. It is followed by Kalvarijos (0.453), Vilkaviškis r. (0.464), Lazdija district. (0.473) and Kelmė district. (0.476) municipalities. However, when evaluating the municipalities in the lowest positions of GKI. according to individual areas among all municipalities, it can be seen that Skuodos r. the municipality ranks quite high – 10th – in terms of educational services, Kalvarija municipality – 19th in terms of demography, civic and social activity sub-index. According to the public infrastructure, living environment quality and safety sub-index, Kelmės district. takes 15th place, Skuodas district. – 16th place, Vilkaviškis district. – 32nd place, Kalvarija municipality is 35th in terms of health services.

According to the material living conditions sub-index the following municipalities occupy the lowest places: Kalvarijos (0.222), Varėnas district. (0.226), Vilkaviškis district. (0.23), Šalčininkai district. (0.233), Lazdija district. (0.237).

Population entrepreneurship and business competitiveness sub-index below are the following municipalities: Skuodos r. (0.011), Lazdija district. (0.013), Zarasai district. (0.018), Vilkaviškis district. (0.019), Ignalina district. (0.02).

The lowest places in the health services sub-index occupied by the following municipalities: Skuodos r. (0.028), Pagėgiu (0.0344), Kazlų Rūda (0.0346), Alytus district. (0.0348), Calvary (0.035).

Educational services sub-index the lowest places are occupied by the following municipalities: Neringa (0.0234), Alytus r. (0.03), Šalčininkai district. (0.032), Vilnius district. (0.0328), Calvary (0.034).

Demographics, civic and social activity sub-index the lowest places are occupied by the following municipalities: Skuodo r. (0.031), Ignalina district. (0.032), Kelmė district. (0.038), Biržai district. (0.044), Anykščiai district. (0.045).

Public infrastructure, living environment quality and safety sub-index the lowest places are occupied by the following municipalities: Mažeikiai r. (0.06), Kalvarijos (0.0623), Akmenės district. (0.0626), Radviliškis district. (0.067), Šilutė district. (0.07).

Additional information:
• GKI was first publicly presented in 2021. in November.
• GKI consists of 40 indicators in 6 areas: material living conditions; population entrepreneurship and business competitiveness; health services; educational services; demography, civic and social activism; public infrastructure, quality and safety of the living environment.
• GKI of municipalities was created in order to assess the social and economic differences between the municipalities of the country. Until now, Lithuania did not have such a detailed tool that would allow comparing any municipality with other similar ones, the county or simply all 60 Lithuanian municipalities in six areas and seeing changes.
• It is expected that the index will contribute to data-based decision-making in the public sector and reduce the gap between municipalities. Also – that using GKI indicators, other social partners, academic institutions, institutions and organizations will be more actively involved in solving public management problems.

The evaluation was carried out during the implementation of the European Union-financed project “Evaluation of the opportunities of municipalities to increase income, developing analytical tools for this purpose” (No. 04-004-P-0001). The purpose of the project is to analyze comparative indicators and data of municipalities in order to create assumptions for evidence-based decision-making, allowing to reduce the fiscal gap between municipalities and increase municipal revenues and optimize funds for ongoing operations. You can find more information about the project here.

Information from the Ministry of Finance