KEY INFORMATION
Official name: Romania
Geographical location: In SE Central Europe, north of Balkan peninsula, on the Lower Danube and bordering on the Black Sea.
Neighbors: 3.175 km Romanian boundaries; Moldova (681 km), Ukraine (639 km), Yugoslavia (544 km), Bulgaria (631 km), Hungary (445 km) and the Black Sea (234 km).
Area: 238.391 sq. km (the 13th largest country in Europe)
Relief distribution: Mountains (31%), hills (36%), plains (33%).
Population (July 2002): 21,794,793; 93.9 inh./sq.km. 86.4% Romanians, 10.6% ethnic minorities. Urban population: 55%.
Religion: Orthodox (86.8%), Roman Catholic (5.0%), Protestant (3.5%), Greek Catholic (Uniate) (1.0%) Moslem 0.2%.
Capital: Bucharest (228 sq. km; pop. 2.027.500).
Administrative division: commune, town, county. There are 41 counties and the Capital, Bucharest, with a county status, 262 towns (of which 80 municipalities), 2,687 communes (with 13.285 villages).
Main cities, according to population size: Iasi 348.000; Constanta 345.000; Timisoara 334.000; Cluj Napoca 333.000; Galati 331.000; Brasov 318.000; Craiova 313.000; 25 cities have a population exceeding 100.000.
Main airport: Bucharest-Otopeni, Bucharest-Baneasa, Constanta-Mihail Kogalniceanu, Suceava, Arad, Sibiu, Timisoara for internal and international traffic.
Official Language: Romanian. The eastern representative of the family of Romance languages, Romanian is descended from the Latin spoken in the Roman provinces of Dacia and Moesia in antiquity. Hungarian, German and Roma also spoken.
State organization: Republic, according to the Constitution of November 21, 1991, with a two chamber Parliament elector for a 4-year term. The President is elected by the universal vote for two 4-years terms at the most. President (since December 2004): Traian Basescu. Prime Minister (since December 2004): Calin Popescu Tariceanu
National day: December 1, the anniversary of the union in 1918 between Transylvania and the old Kingdom (Regat).
Weights and measures: The metric system, in use since 1866.
Currency: 1 leu (plural lei). 1 USD = 2,40 lei.
Armed forces: Military service is voluntary for Romanian citizens.
| Constitution |
Adopted in 1991 and revised in October 2003 |
| Head of state |
President Traian Basescu |
| Current government |
Government (www.gov.ro) formed by the National Liberal Party - PNL www.pnl.ro and Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR) www.udmr.ro |
| Prime Minister |
Calin Constantin Anton Popescu-Tariceanu, Government of Romania (www.gov.ro) |
| Foreign Minister |
Adrian Cioroianu, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (www.mae.ro) |
| Parliament |
The Parliament is composed of the Chamber of Deputies (lower house) and the Senate (upper house). The two bodies wield equal powers. Parliamentarians are elected through a proportional system at the national level. Elections are held every four years at the same time for both houses. Most recent elections were held in November 2004. The Chamber of Deputies and the Senate have 332 and 137 seats respectively. |
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Copyright © Consulate General of Romania 2004
