Moody's Analytics' definition for metropolitan areas in Lithuania conforms to definitions published by the Parliament of the Lithuanian Republic, the Heating Association of Lithuania, and the ESPON study. Based on these, a metro area is defined by reference to "county"-type localities, and the single area is:

• Vilnius

In making this decision, we investigated and rejected two possible sources:

Transportation Department of the Vilnius Council: Defined metropolitan areas based on travel to work areas. These areas were selected according to the map provided by the source. The three municipalities least connected with the city (Šalcininkai d. mun., Švencionys d. mun., Ukmerge d. mun.) are excluded from the "county"-type definition. However, the most populated portion of each municipality is closely related to Vilnius, so their exclusion omits vital information.

The Vilnius Council: Developed metropolitan "zones" within a 50 kilometer radius of the city center.  Rejected because the zone would include parts of other counties and of an adjacent country, and because it fails to consider economic connectivity.

References:

• ESPON: Project 1.4.3 Study on Urban Functions
• ESPON: 1.4.3 Final Report (PDF, 2007)
• Parliament of Lithuania: Vilnius County Definition (in Lithuanian)
• Transportation Department: Travel to work power point explanation (in Lithuanian)
• Vilnius Council: Metropolitan Zone map
• Vilnius Council: Metropolitan Zone documentation

Table 1 of 1. Metropolitan areas in Lithuania. We define the Vilnius metropolitan area as conterminous with the NUTS 3 county of the same name.  Lithuania has a national geo code of ILTU, all codes for its geographic subdivisions use ILTU as a prefix, and all Moody's Analytics metro areas feature the letter "M."