Romania facts

Romania, located in Southeastern Central Europe, north of the Balkan Peninsula, is an emerging European democracy. Romania's neighbours are: the Republic of Moldavia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Serbia, and Hungary, while in the south-east it borders on the Black Sea. The country lies midway between the Atlantic coast and the Urals, between the Equator and the North Pole.

A Brief survey of Romania

The climate is mild, temperate-continental, with average temperatures of -3° C in winter and 22-24° C in summer.
Nature has been generous with Romania: its relief is harmoniously distributed, with the mountains, hills and plains each covering about one-third of the country's area. Forests still cover 28% of the area, and the fauna is one of the richest and most varied in Europe. The Danube Delta, a UNESCO protected biosphere reservation, is unique in Europe. The Carpathian Mountains, the Lower Danube (1,075 km), the Black Sea Coast (234 km), have influenced in the course of history the life of the Romanian people.

Geography and Population

With an area of 238,391 square kilometers (92,043 square miles) and a population of 21.4 million (90 inhabitants/sq. km), Romania is a medium-size European country. It is slightly smaller in area than Great Britain and its population is smaller than that of Canada, but bigger than the population of Venezuela. At present, Romania is the most densely populated country in SE Europe and the second most densely populated country in Central Europe. More than half of the population (55 %) lives in towns. There are 25 towns in the country whose population exceeds 100,000 inhabitants, and there are 8 cities whose population exceeds 300,000.
The capital of the country, Bucharest, dates from the 15th century. It is situated in the south of Romania and its population of 2,151,000 inhabitants including metro area. Major Romanian population centres are: Bucharest - capital (2,151,000 inhabitants); Constanta (346,000); Iasi (346,000); Timisoara (332,000); Galati (327,000); Cluj-Napoca (332,000); Brasov (319,000); Craiova (310,000); Ploiesti (253,000), Braila (235,000).
The population of the country is predominantly Romanian. The ethnic structure of the population breaks down as follows: Romanian (89.5%); Hungarian (6.6%); Roma (2.5%); German (0.5%); Others (0.9%).
The percentage of people belonging to the major religious denominations is the following: Orthodox (86.8%); Roman-Catholic (5.0%); Reformed (3.5%); Greek-Catholic (1.0%).
From an administrative point of view, Romania is divided into 41 counties, while Bucharest, the capital, is also a separate administrative unit with a county status. There are 262 towns and 2,686 communes in the country. The major ports are: Constanta, Mangalia and Sulina on the Black Sea, Tulcea, Galati, Braila, Giurgiu and Drobeta-Turnu Severin on the Danube. After the opening of the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal in 1992, the Danube-Black Sea Canal provides direct connection between the Black Sea and the North Sea. Bucharest - Otopeni and Bucharest - Baneasa are the main airports of the capital; other 16 towns are connected to the capital by regular flights. Standard time is East European Time (GMT + 2 hours), and between March and September - Daylight Saving Time (GMT + 2 hours during Official Summer Time).
The metric system has been in force since 1866.
The official language is Romanian, the easternmost representative of the family of Romance languages. It derives from the Latin spoken in the Roman provinces of Dacia and Moesia in ancient times.
The Romanians are quite good at learning foreign languages, therefore English, French and German are also widely spoken.

Government

The Constitution, voted by Parliament on November 21, 1991 and validated by a referendum on December 8, 1991, proclaims Romania a parliamentary democracy. The two houses of Parliament (the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate) are elected by universal vote for a four-year term. The President, also elected by universal vote for a five-year term (with the right to be re-elected only once), is the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces and Chairman of the Supreme Defense Council. He nominates a candidate for the office of Prime Minister, and appoints the Government on the basis of the Parliament's confidence vote. Public administration in the territorial administrative units is grounded on the principles of local autonomy and decentralization of public services. Local councils (at the level of counties, towns and villages) and mayors are elected by direct vote. The Government appoints a prefect at the head of each county.
The judicial authority comprises the law courts, the General Attorney's Office and the Higher Council of Magistracy.

Economy

Romania is rich in natural resources: oil (in 1938 it was the second biggest producer in Europe and the seventh in the world), methane gas (the fifth biggest world producer in 1975), coal, non-ferrous ores, gold, silver, salt etc. Farmland accounts for 40% of the country's territory, while forests represent 28% and pastures and hay fields 20%. The major industrial branches are machine-building, food industry, metallurgy, chemistry, light industry, wood processing. Romanian agriculture produces mainly cereals (wheat, maize), sunflower, sugar beet, potatoes, grapes. Livestock is represented by cattle, pigs, sheep and goats.

Transport

The country's railway network totals 11,374 km of which 3,866 km electrified track. The public road network totals 72,828 km of which 17,248 modernized roads. There is an active sea, river-borne and air traffic. The Bucharest Metro is constantly extending its network. The evolution of the major macro economic indices as well as the production levels in industry and agriculture are presented in Appendices 1 and 2. Prior to December 1989, the economy was based on socialist (state and cooperative) ownership, as private ownership was practically not allowed, and it was characterized by excessive centralization and rigid planning. In 1990 a strategy of transition was adopted, which combined a carefully paced reform process in state enterprises (by turning them into autonomous administrations - regies autonomes and commercial companies) with a phased approach to price liberalization, in a steady effort to keep inflationary pressures under control and to stop the decline in production and the displacement of labour, as well as to ease the attendant social costs. In this respect, measures were adopted aimed at dismantling the command economy, passing the privatization law, encouraging foreign investment.