Romania lies in the northern hemisphere, in the south-eastern Central Europe at the junction with Eastern Europe and the Balkan Peninsula and at the crossroad of important routes. Romania’s area of 238,391 sq. km constitutes 4.8% of Europe’s and 5.4% of the European Union’s surface.
Romania borders the Republic of Moldova in the north-east, Ukraine in the north, Hungary in the north-west, Serbia in the south-west and Bulgaria in the south, with a state border measuring a total length of 3,149.9 km and an additional maritime border 193.5 km long.
Our country’s natural features consist of mountains, hills and plains placed concentrically in tiers with an elevation difference of 2544 m from the sea level to the highest mountain in the Carpathians, Mount Moldoveanu. The montane area, the Carpathian Mountains, represents 31% of the country’s territory. The mountains have often been compared with an orographic stronghold embracing the Transylvanian Plateau inside. In the Western Carpathians there is the longest volcano chain in Europe whilst the Eastern Carpathians contain important ore deposits of gold and silver.
Romania’s position on the Globe, half-distance between the Equator and the North Pole, endows it with a temperate-continental climate with oceanic influences in the western and central regions, Mediterranean in the south-west, excessive-continental in the east, Scandinavian-Baltic in the north-east and Black Sea influences in the south-east.
Romania’s territory is administratively divided in communes (with their component villages), towns and cities (some of them asserted municipalities) and counties. The 41 counties together with Bucharest represent the traditional territorial-administrative divisions of Romania, based on geographical, economic, social, political conditions and on the population’s traditional and cultural roots.
In the 2011 census Romania’s population numbered 20,121,641 inhabitants, a figure that places Romania among middle countries, the seventh within the European Union and the 58th in the world (according to Eurostat). The main cities of the country, whose populations exceed 100 thousand inhabitants, are Cluj-Napoca, Timişoara, Iaşi, Constanţa, Craiova, Braşov, Galaţi, Ploieşti, Oradea, Brăila, Arad, Piteşti, Sibiu, Bacău, Târgu-Mureş, Baia Mare, Buzău, Botoşani and Satu Mare.
The rural space has a surface of 207,522 sq. km which represents 87.1% of the country’s territory and concentrates 9.2 million inhabitants (46.0% of the total population).
Agriculture represents a basic branch of the national economy with a share of 5.6% of the GDP (2013). Agriculture’s contribution to the Gross Domestic Product is significant compared to the average in EU (1.7%). Relative to the other European Union members, Romania has the greatest percentage of the people employed in agriculture (29.3% in 2012) compared to a EU average of 5.7%.
Romania’s touristic potential distinguishes itself by a great variety of natural features as well as cultural resources of great value. The natural potential is augmented by the anthropic touristic resources, especially the cultural and historical ones, complemented by the existence of archeological sites, Dacian, Roman and Medieval remains, churches and monasteries, architectural edifices (palaces and castles), museums, the remarkable richness and diversity of ethnic and folklore traditions and the folk architecture. The touristic waves have been increasing; in 2014 Romania was visited by 8.46 million tourists with a 22.6% share of foreign tourists.
(Source: presidency.ro – https://www.presidency.ro/en/president/romania)
Modern Romania emerged within the territories of the ancient Roman province of Dacia, and was formed in 1859 through a personal union of the principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia. The new state, officially named Romania since 1866, gained independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1877. At the end of World War I, Transylvania, Bukovina and Bessarabia united with the sovereign Kingdom of Romania. At the end of World War II, territories which today roughly correspond to the Republic of Moldova were occupied by the Soviet Union, and a few years later Romania became a socialist republic and member of the Warsaw Pact. After the 1989 Revolution, Romania began a transition back towards democracy and a capitalist market economy.
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UNESCO World Heritage sites in Romania
Getting to Romania: By aeroplane, By train, By bus, By car