PROFILE

OFFICIAL NAME:
Romania

Geography
Area: 237,499 sq. km. (91,699 sq. mi.); somewhat smaller than New York and Pennsylvania combined.
Cities: Capital--Bucharest (pop. 2.02 million). Other cities--Iasi (350,000), Constanta (344,000), Timisoara (327,000), Cluj-Napoca (334,000), Galati (331,000), Brasov (316,000).
Terrain: Consists mainly of rolling, fertile plains; hilly in the eastern regions of the middle Danube basin; and major mountain ranges running north and west in the center of the country, which collectively are known as the Carpathians.
Climate: Moderate.

People
Nationality: Noun and adjective--Romanian(s).
Population: 21.6 million (December 2006).
Annual population growth rate: -0.3%.
Ethnic groups: Romanians 89%, Hungarians 7.1%, Germans 0.5%, Ukrainians, Serbs, Croats, Russians, Turks, and Roma 2.5%.
Religions: Orthodox 86.8%, Roman Catholic 5%, Reformed Protestant, Baptist, and Pentecostal 5%, Greek Catholic (Uniate) 1 to 3%, Muslim 0.2%, Jewish less than 0.1%.
Languages: Romanian (official). Other languages--Hungarian, German.
Education: Years compulsory--10. Attendance--98%. Literacy--98%.
Health: Infant mortality rate--18.7/1000 (2001); 18.6/1,000 (2002). Life expectancy--men 67.61 yrs., women 74.9 yrs.
Work force (September 2006): 9.6 million. Agriculture--3.0 million; industry and commerce--3.4 million; services--3.2 million.

Government
Type: Republic.
Constitution: December 8, 1991, amended by referendum October 18-19, 2003.
Branches: Executive--president (head of state), prime minister (head of government), Council of Ministers. Legislative--bicameral Parliament. Judicial--Constitutional Court, High Court of Cassation and Justice, and lower courts.
Subdivisions: 41 counties plus the city of Bucharest.
Political parties: Political parties represented in the Parliament are the Social Democratic Party (PSD); the National Liberal Party (PNL); the Democratic Party (PD); the Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania (UDMR); the Romanian Conservative Party (PC); the Greater Romania Party (PRM). Other political parties include National Democratic Christian Peasant Party (PNTCD), the Party of the Romanian National Unity (PUNR), as well as political organizations of minorities.
Suffrage: Universal from age 18.
Defense: 2.4% of GDP.

Economy
GDP (2006): $122.3 billion.
Annual GDP growth rate (2006): +7.7%. GDP per capita (2006): $5,662.
Natural resources: Oil, timber, natural gas, coal, salt, iron ore.
Agriculture (2006): Percent of GDP--8.0%. Products--corn, wheat, potatoes, oilseeds, vegetables, livestock, fish, and forestry.
Industry (2006): Percent of GDP--23.9%. Types--machine building, mining, construction materials, metal production and processing, chemicals, food processing, textiles, clothing. Industrial output increased by 2.0% in 2005 and 7.1% in 2006.
Services (2006): Percent of GDP--61.1%.
Construction (2006): Percent of GDP--7.0%.
Trade: Exports (2006)--$32.3 billion. Types--textiles, chemicals, light manufactures, wood products, fuels, processed metals, machinery and equipment. Exports to the U.S. (2006)--$827.5 million. Major markets--Italy, Germany, Turkey, France, Hungary, U.K., U.S. (2.6%). Imports (2006)--$50.9 billion. Types--machinery and equipment, textiles, fuel, coking coal, iron ore, machinery and equipment, and mineral products. Imports from the U.S. (2006)--$1.2 billion. Major suppliers--Germany, Italy, Russia, France, Turkey, Austria, U.K., China, Hungary, U.S. (2.4%).
Exchange rate: 2.51 new Lei=U.S.$1 (end-March 2007).

GEOGRAPHY
Extending inland halfway across the Balkan Peninsula and covering a large elliptical area of 237,499 square kilometers (91,699 sq. mi.), Romania occupies the greater part of the lower basin of the Danube River system and the hilly eastern regions of the middle Danube basin. It lies on either side of the mountain systems collectively known as the Carpathians, which form the natural barrier between the two Danube basins.

Romania's location gives it a continental climate, particularly in Moldavia and Wallachia (geographic areas east of the Carpathians and south of the Transylvanian Alps, respectively) and to a lesser extent in centrally located Transylvania, where the climate is more moderate. A long and at times severe winter (December-March), a hot summer (April-July), and a prolonged autumn (August-November) are the principal seasons, with a rapid transition from spring to summer. In Bucharest, the daily minimum temperature in January averages -7^oC (20^oF), and the daily maximum temperature in July averages 29^oC (85^oF).

PEOPLE
About 89% of the people are ethnic Romanians, a group that--in contrast to its Slav or Hungarian neighbors--traces itself to Latin-speaking Romans, who in the second and third centuries A.D. conquered and settled among the ancient Dacians, a Thracian people. As a result, the Romanian language, although containing elements of Slavic, Turkish, and other languages, is a romance language related to French and Italian.