ROMANIA
- The Romanian flag
: 3 equal stripes–red,yellow and blue (near to the lance)-proportions 3/2
- The Romanian coat of arms
- The Romanian map
- The official name
: Republic of Romania
- Forma de guvernamant:
republica parlamentara
- Position
: in the geographical centre of the continent Europe, at 2800 km of the Arctic Ocean (in north), 2700 km of the Atlantic Ocean (in west) and 2600 km of the Ural Mountains (in east); Romania is a Carpathian and a danubian country, with access to the Black Sea (234 km), that offers it access to the Mediterranean Sea through the Bosfor Strait (the seaside of the Black Sea, starry with stations, is, every year the object of an overflow of immense mass of tourists all over the world attracted by the splendid beaches, rested hotels and an intense night-life).
- Co-ordinates
: 43°37’07"-48015’06" northern latitude and 20°15’44"-29041’24" eastern longitude.
- The area
: 238,391 square kilometres (91,843 miles) (the 12th position in Europe)
- Maximum length
: 720 km (east-west)
- Maximum width
: 515 km (north-south)
- Territorial administration
: 41 districts and Bucharest
as capital (the greatest city: 1,996,612 inhabitants)
- Relief
: variably and harmoniously distributed: mountains (31%), plains (36%) (the immense plains have always rouse the admiration of foreign farmers), hills and tablelands (33%) (among which there appear the wonderful monasteries, plenty of them housing the relics of saints and martyrs, guarded by the orthodox monks and pious nuns).
- The mountains
: the Romanian Carpati (“The Alps of Transylvania”) form a 1,000 km chain in the middle of the country; they have ten summits over 2,500 metres, with a maximum altitude in the Făgăraş Mountains - The Moldoveanu Peak – 2,544 m [the Carpathes are the most preserved mountains in Europe, so the wild life has survived here better than in other places (the wonderful woods from the mountains are populated by stads, bears, foxes, wild boards, wolves, lynxes, capercailzies, charmoises, a lot of birds and, after a period of total lack, there has been reintroduced the anrochs), all these making them an authentic oasis in the heart of Europe].
- Hydrography
: a rivers net tributary to the Danube (the longest river in Europe, longer than the Rhine), that flows in the south of the country (along) for 1,075 km (almost half of the 2,850 km from spring to river mouth); in 1984 the traffic was opened on Danube - Black Sea Channel (64.4 km) which, after inauguration in 1992 of the Rhine - Main - Danube Channel, facilitates the direct connection with the North Sea.
- The Danube Delta
: one of the most important natural ecological place in the world (the 100,000 hectares area is classified by UNESCO as a "Reservation of the Biosphere"); it has a 4,345 square km area on Romanian territory (of the total of 5,640 square km); contains the three flowing (pouring) of the Danube: Chilia, Sulina, St. George.
- Natural Reservations
: over 534 (4.8% of the surface of the country
- Climate
: continental-temperate the yearly average temperature 8°C in the North and 11°C in the South.
- Population
: 22,430,000 inhabitants (2001) (the 9th place in Europe
and the 38th in the world); 94 inhabitants per square km; in the town population: 54.6 %; Romanians (89.47%);Hungarians (7.12%), Germans (0.52%), Gypsies (1.76%), Jews (0.04%); the population is relatively young (60.8% of the people are between 15-59 years old); the traditional hospitality of the Romanian people is well known; about 9 million Romanians live outside Romania: 4 million in the Republic of Moldavia, 2 million in Hungary, Serbia, Greece, Albania; more then 2 million live in U.S.A. and Canada; others live in South America, South Africa and Australia.
- The official language
: the Romanian (The Romanian, as well as the Italian, the French, the Spanish and the Portuguese is a continuation of the Latin; like the other, the Romanian is a neolatin language, the representative of the oriental Latinity, the only one that survived, isolated in a Slav "sea".
- The most often used foreign language
: English, French, and German
- The official currency
: 1 LEU (plural: LEI) = 100 bani (33,064 LEI = 1 USD;
32,662 LEI = 1 EURO) (10/3/2002).
- The local hour
: Romania’s hour = GMT + 2 hours (in the winter); GMT + 3 hours (in the summer).
- Religions
(January the 7th 1992): Orthodox 86.8%, Roman-Catholics 5%, Protestants 3.5%, Greek-Catholics 1%.
- The life-hope
(1996-1998): men - 65.5 years, women - 73.3 years.
- Roads
: 73,000 km
- Railway network
: 11,376 km
- Subway (Bucharest):
59.2 km.
- Cities
: 265 (of which 81 municipalities) (2001): Constanta (337,200 inhabitants),
Iasi (349,600 inhabitants), Timisoara (329,800 inhabitants), Cluj-Napoca
(332,600 inhabitants), Galati (325,400 inhabitants), Brasov (308,500 inhabitants).
- The principal airports
(17), of which 5 are international: Bucharest-Otopeni, Timişoara, Constanţa-Kogălniceanu, Suceava, Arad.
- The main ports
: Constanta and Mangalia at the Black Sea, Giurgiu on the Danube,
Galati and Braila, both on the Danube and at the Sea.
- The main touristic zones or objectives:
- Bucharest- the biggest touristic centre of Romania;
- The Black Seacoast, with renowned heliotherapy stations (Mamaia, 33,000 rooms, the constellation Mangalia North-Saturn, Jupiter, Aurora, Venus, Neptun- more than 50,000 rooms and all sorts of touristic endourments at international standards) and spas (Techirghiol, Eforie South and North, Mangalia - the last 3 also having facilities for heliomarine cure), with the children holiday towns (Navodari) and Costinesti-for teenagers, with the ancient town vestiges Tomis =
Constanta, Callatis = Mangalia, Histria;
- The Bucegi area - Brasov (the main zone of the montane and winter tourism, with the city of Braşov and the
Poiana Brasov, Sinaia, Predeal s.a.);
- The Olt Valley with spas in Harghita county (Tusnad) and in Valcea county (Calimanesti-Caciulata, Olanesti, Govora);
- Bucovina (the northwest of Moldavia) with feudal art monuments included in the UNESCO catalogue (the churches with internal and external frescoes from Voronet, Moldovita, Sucevita, Humor, Arbore - the 15th-16th century), the Putna monastery and the old capital of Moldavia, Suceava;
- The Apuseni (Occidental) Mountains with their spectacular Karst phenomena (caverns – including the one with fossil glacier from Scărişoara, the Ponor Fortresses, the Quaies of Turda, the Quick Cris Narrow Gorge etc.) and an old, popular and unaltered culture;
- Maramures, with its folklore and ethnographic values (a real wood civilisation: carved gates, houses, high steeples churches), the cheerful graveyard from Sapantza, spas and winter sports stations;
- The Danube Delta;
- The Iron Gates [with the Herculean Spas (Baths) station, known even by the Romans; the Danube Narrow Gorge];
- Other touristic places or centres: Ceahlau - the Red Lake; the Retezat Mountains (with the harmonious national park); the mountains of Orastie (with Dacian fortresses);
Iasi (the capital of Moldavia, 16th-19th century).
The economy: Romania is an oil bearing country, having a lot of natural resources [pasture lands (19.9% of the country’s area), vineyards (2.5%), 3,500 lakes (2,300 natural ones) (3.8%), natural gases (the 9th world-wide producer in 1990), coal, iron, gold, silver, bauxite, uranium, salt and other non-metallic resources), mineral waters, thermal waters, a big forestry fund (27% of the surface of the country is covered with forests)] and not at last, a large agricultural area (39.6% of the area is arable).
The main resources (2000/2001): wheat (10,480,000 tons); horned cattle (2,980,000); sheep’s (8,680,000); pigs (4,970,000);
total electricity (51.58 billion kilowatts/hour); natural gas (13.6 billion m3); lignite (34,800,000 tons) (the 10th place in the world); oil (6,040,000 tons)
The internal gross product: 3,900 USD/inhabitant
The origins of the internal gross product (2000): 11.4 % comes form the agriculture,
27.6 % from the industry, 61 % from the services.
The IGP/inhabitant (the value of the purchasing power parity): 4,090 USD (1994)
Unemployment: 10.8 % (1-st of January 2001)
The currency stock: 6.7 billion USD (9/30/2002)
Measures system: the metric system from 1866, compulsory since 1884
Registration in education institutions: primary 94% (1994); secondary 78% (1994); superior 11.9% (1992).
Health: one medicine doctor per 540 inhabitants (1993).
Infant mortality: 22% (1995)
Armed forces: 180,000 people.
Diplomatic relationships: Romania has diplomatic relationships with 175 states and has diplomatic representances in 99 countries.
The main international organisations : Romania is member of the UNO, OSCE, European Council, FAO, WHO, ILO, UNESCO, UNICEF, IAEA, IBRD, CEFTA, the Danube Commission, associated member of European Union, partner of WEU, member of the Peace Partnership.
Photos, maps and images gallery
|
|
