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RomaniaRomânia
Flag Coat of arms of Romania Coat of arms
Motto: none
Anthem: Deşteaptă-te, române!)
Capitaland largest city	Bucharest
Official languages	Romanian
Government	Parliamentary democracy
Independence
• Water (%)	3%
Population
• July 2006 estimate	22,303,552 (50th)
• 2002 census	21,680,974
GDP (PPP)	2006 estimate
• Total	$204.4 billion (43rd)
• Per capita	$8,785 (67th)
HDI (2003)	0.792 high (64th)
Currency	Leu (RON)
Time zone	UTC+2 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+3 (EEST)
Calling code	40
ISO 3166 code	RO
Internet TLD	.ro

Romania (Romanian: România /ro.mɨ'ni.a/) is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is bordered by Ukraine and Moldova in the northeast; Hungary and Serbia in the west and Bulgaria to the south along the Danube River. Romania has a stretch of sea coast on the Black Sea and the eastern and southern Carpathian mountains run through its centre. Romania has been an active member of NATO since 2004, and is also an acceding country to the European Union. The EU Accession Treaty was signed in early 2005, and Romania is due to join the European Union on January 1, 2007. Starting from January 1, 2007, Romania will be the seventh largest EU nation.

Name

Main article: Etymology of Romania

The name of Romania (România) comes from Român (Romanian) which is a derivative of the word Romanus ("Roman") from Latin.

The oldest surviving document written in the Romanian language is a 1521 letter which notifies the mayor of Braşov about the imminent attack of the Ottoman Turks. This document is also notable for having the first occurrence of "Rumanian", Wallachia being here named The Rumanian Land - Ţeara Rumânească (Ţeara < Latin Terra = land). In the following centuries, Romanian documents use both forms: Român and Rumân. Socio-linguistic evolutions in the late Middle Ages lead to a process of semantic differentiation: the form "rumân", presumably usual among lower classes, got the meaning of "bondsman", while the form "român" kept an ethno-linguistic meaning. After the abolition of the serfage in 1746, the form "rumân" disappears and the spelling definitively stabilises to the form "român", "românesc". The name "România" as common homeland of all Romanians is documented in the early 19th century.

Romanians take pride in being the most eastern Romance people, completely surrounded by non-Latin peoples ("a Latin island in a Slavic sea").

Romanian heads of state (from the Unification of 1859)

Principality of Romania

Kingdom of Romania

Romanian People's Republic

Socialist Republic of Romania (from 21 August 1965)

Romania

Politics

Main article: Politics of Romania

The legislative branch of the Romanian government consists of two chambers, Senatul (The Senate), which has 137 members (as of 2004), and Camera Deputaţilor (The Chamber of Deputies), which has 332 members (as of 2004). The members of both chambers are elected every four years.

The President is also elected by popular vote, every five years (until 2004, four years).

The President appoints the Prime Minister, who heads the Government, and the members of the Government, who are chosen by the Prime Minister. In fact the Prime Minister is a member of the party or of the coallition that holds the majority in The Parliament. The President can choose the Prime minister only if none of the parties hold 50% + 1 of the total number of the members of the Parliament. The Government is subject to a parliamentary vote of approval.

The judicial power belongs to a hierarchical system of courts culminating with the supreme court-Înalta Curte de Justiţie şi Casaţie (The High Court of Justice and Casation). The Romanian judicial system is an inquisitorial system, of strong French influence.

The Curtea Constituţională (The Constitutional Court) judges the exceptions of non-constitutionality when invoked in any judicial court and judges the compliance of laws or other state regulations to the Romanian Constitution , if these are brought before it. It follows the tradition of the French Constitutional Council in requiring 9 judges to hold a 9 year-old, non-renewable term. Following the 2003 revision of the Constitution, its decisions cannot be defeated by any majority of the Parliament.

Administrative divisions

Main article: Counties of Romania

Romania is divided into 41 judeţe, or counties, and the municipality of Bucharest (Bucureşti) - the capital. See also Administrative divisions of Romania.

The counties are (in alphabetical order):

Geography

Main article: Geography of Romania

A large part of Romania's borders with Serbia and Bulgaria is formed by the Danube. The Danube is joined by the Prut River, which forms the border with Moldova. The Danube flows into the Black Sea forming the Danube Delta which is a reservation of the Biosphere.

Because many of Romania's borders are defined by natural, sometimes shifting rivers, and because the Danube Delta is constantly expanding towards the sea, about 2-5 linear metres (6–16 ft) yearly, Romania's surface area has changed over the past few decades, generally increasing. The number has increased from about 237,500 square kilometres (91,699 sq mi) in 1969 to 238,391 square kilometres (92,043 sq mi) in 2005.

Romania's terrain is distributed roughly equally among between mountainous, hilly and lowland territories.

The Carpathian Mountains dominate the centre of Romania surrounding the Transylvanian Plateau, 14 peaks reaching above the altitude of 2,000 metres (6,560 ft), the highest being Moldoveanu Peak. In the south, the Carpathians sweeten into hills, towards the Bărăgan Plains.

The three highest mountains in Romania are:

Major cities are the capital Bucharest, Iaşi, Timişoara, Cluj-Napoca, Constanţa, Craiova, Braşov, and Galaţi.

See also:

• List of Romanian Cities
• List of Romanian Villages
• Rivers of Romania
• Lakes of Romania
• Mountains of Romania

Largest cities

Source: National Institute of Statistics, 2002 Census

Unofficially, sociologists say that in its 228 square kilometres (88 sq mi), Bucharest has more than 3.5 million people, coming from every corner of the country.

Economy

Main article: Economy of Romania

After Romania's Communist regime was overthrown in late 1989, the country experienced a decade of economic instability and decline, led in part by an obsolete industrial base as well as a lack of structural reform. Starting from 2000, however, the economy was transformed into one of relative macreconomic stability, high growth, low unemployment and increasing foreign investment, and is currently among the most developed in Southeastern Europe. Economic growth since 2000 has averaged 4-5%, rising to 8.3% in 2004. This has characterised Romania as a boom economy and one of the fastest growing in Europe. Romania was granted in October 2004 the much desired 'functional market economy' status by EU officials, and is expected to join the EU in January 2007. Romania's per-capita GDP, calculated by purchasing power parity is estimated to be $10,900 at end of 2005. The national budget is €38.1 billion euro (for year 2006), which represents 33.1% of GDP, estimated to be RON 322.5 billion (€90,8 billions) according to the Prime-Minister Tăriceanu.

Strong aspects of Romania are the technologically advanced market economy with substantial government participation. Having its own natural resources, Romania has intensively developed its agricultural and industrial sectors over the past 20 years. Romania is largely self-sufficient in food production. Clothing and textiles, industrial machinery, electrical and electronic equipment, metallurgic products, raw materials, cars, military equipment, software, pharmaceuticals, fine chemicals, and agricultural products (fruits, vegetables, and flowers) are leading exports. Romania possesses extensive facilities for oil refining and semiconductor fabrication.

Inflation in 2005 dropped to 7.5%. It is expected to fall further to 5.8% at the end of 2006, and 3.8% for 2007. Unemployment in Romania is at 5.2% (January 2006), which is very low compared to other large European countries such as Poland, France, or Germany.

Since the late 1990s, there have been several economic reforms, spurred on by the country's bid to join the EU, including the liquidation of large energy-intensive industries and major reforms in the agricultural and financial sectors. As of 2005, a significant amount of Romania's major companies have been privatised, including the majority of banks, the largest oil companies Petrom and Rompetrol, energy distributors and telecommunications companies. The country continues to privatise remaining state enterprises, including Romanian Post and the Romanian Commercial Bank. In comparison to its neighbours, Romania has a high number of small to medium sized enterprises (SMEes). Foreign investment has increased significantly since 2003, reaching € 5.1 billion in 2004. ERSTE BANK A.G. will be the new majority shareholder of Romanian Commercial Bank following the acquisition of a 61.88 percent stake at a price of Euro 7.65 per share, resulting in a total price for the 490,399,321 shares sold of Euro 3,751,554,805 (3.75 Billion €). This is considered the biggest Austrian foreign investment abroad. This is also considered the biggest FDI in Romania. Total FDI in Romania for 2005 was 6.3 Billion €. In the top of investor's country, Austria is leading with more then 6,7 Billion € from 1990 until 2005.

Romania's economy grew 4.1% in 2005, less then half the growth of the previous year, according to the National Statistics Office. The construction sector increased by 9.9% while the service sector showed an increase of 8.1%. Currently GDP growth is forecast at 5.9% per annum. Romania's economy is characterized by a huge potential of tourism. Tourism of Romania has attracted 880 millions € investments in 2005 and doubled the amount of money invested in Romanian resorts.

Despite Romania's rapid economic development, poverty is still a pervasive problem, and modernization's effects are only slowly being felt in the country's rural areas. Entrance to the European Union, however, will further speed up the country's development.

Trade

The majority of Romania's trade is oriented towards the countries of the European Union. For the first 3 months of 2006, Romania's exports rose 24.8%, while imports rose 31%, in part due to a rise in real wages. In March 2006, Romanian exports grew to a record value of €3.5 billion/month. The trade deficit was about €1.2 billion (US$1.8 billion) in the first three months of the year, well within the target for 2006. In present, at a series of economical indicators, Romania has a similar situation of the new member states of EU, the export of highly technological products being of 4.5% from total exports, comparatively higher than Poland which has only 2.7% from exports. In December 2005 the National Strategy for Export for 2005-2009 was adopted. Foreign trade is estimated to top 79 Billion € for 2006, compared with 58 Billion € in 2005.

Main indicators of the exports and imports of Romania's economy:

Taxation

In January 2005, Romania's new Tăriceanu government imposed major fiscal reforms, replacing Romania's progressive tax system with a 16% flat tax on both personal income and company profit. Romania now has one of the most liberal taxation systems in Europe, and it is expected that this, along with increased foreign investment, will boost economic growth in the coming years, as well as lower corruption and bring to light the grey economy. The tax cuts have led a 12 percent jump in household consumption, which was also boosted by a 15 percent rise in wages.

Debt

Romania's level of international debt is estimated at $24.59 billion in 2004, or 23.6% of GDP which is considered very low. However, as Romania is currently going through an economic boom and is undertaking several major infrastructure projects, especially in the context of its EU accession, debt is expected to rise in absolute terms.

During the latter part of the Ceauşescu period, Romania earned significant credits from several Arab countries, notably Iraq, for work related to the oil industry. In August 2005, Romania forgave US$2 billion of the US$2.5 billion debt owed it by an Iraq still largely occupied by the military forces of the U.S.-led "Coalition of the Willing", making Romania the first country outside of the Paris Club of wealthy creditor nations to forgive Iraqi debts. Romania has the largest international reserves in the region, estimated at € 25 billion (by April 2006), covering more than 7 months of imports.

Wages

The average gross wage per month in Romania is 1217 new lei as of March 2006, an increase of 25,6% over the previous year. This equates to €456.38, based on international exchange rates; the purchasing power parity (PPP) would be about €930. The average net salary per month in March 2006 was 983 new lei (€319.55, about €712 PPP). The Comisia Nationala de Prognoza (CNP) calculates that the average gross wage per month will reach €534 (€962 PPP) in 2007 and €623 (1121€ PPP) in 2009.

Currency

Romania's legal tender is the leu (plural lei). On 1 July 2005, the leu was subjected to revaluation so that 10,000 old lei, in circulation on that date, was exchanged for 1 new leu. The existing banknotes and coins, i.e. the old lei, will be legal tender until the end of December 2006. The official exchange rate for 10 August 2005 for 1€=3.39 lei (National Bank of Romania). By 31 December 2006, the existing banknotes and coins, i.e. the old lei, are to be replaced gradually by the new banknotes and coins. The process will prepare Romania for the adoption of the euro, which is expected to take place several years after EU accession. The Romanian government has said that it expects the country will adopt the euro between 2011 and 2012.

Main indicators of Romania's economy:

Romania's GDP over 2005-2007 will go up by 10 billion euros per year, and will stand in 2007 at 96.138 billion euros.

National Budget

National budget, about €35 billion, represents about 31,2% of GDP of RON 389,5 billion (EURO 94,8 billion), declared the Prime-Minister Tariceanu, 1 Euro=3,4 RON. National budget is increasing rapidly at about 6 billion EURO each year between 2005-2009. About 2 billion EURO/year are spend on national defense.

National budget of Romania:

Romania's development in period 2007-2013 will cost 58,7 billions euro of which 43% represents European Union financial contribution.

National Holidays

The Christian holidays of Christmas and (Orthodox) Easter are celebrated (they are official, non-working, holidays). Unlike some other Eastern Orthodox Churches, the Romanian Orthodox Church celebrates Christmas on 25 December; however, they follow the usual Eastern Orthodox practice for the date of Easter. Other official holidays (non-working) are New Year's Day (January 1), Labour Day (May 1), and the National Day of Romania (December 1, the Union Day). For Christmas and for Labour Day, it is common for businesses to shut down more than a single day.

Minor, but widely observed, holidays include Mărţişor (March 1), marking the start of spring, and International Women's Day (March 8). Many businesses give women employees the day off for International Women's Day. Some holidays celebrated in the United States or in other parts of Europe have recently been gaining some currency in Romania, for example Valentine's Day (February 14).

Also see Holidays in Romania.

Sport in Romania

Romania is internationally successful in a number of sports. See List of Romanians (sport section).

The gymnast Nadia Comaneci was the first gymnast to score a perfect "ten" in the 1976 Montreal Olympics. She also won three gold medals, one silver and one bronze - all at the age of fifteen. Her success continued in the 1980 Moscow Olympics when she was awarded two gold medals and two silver medals.

Ilie Năstase, the tennis player, is another internationally known Romanian sports star. He won several Grand Slam titles, dozens of other tournaments and also was a successful doubles player. Romania has also reached the Davis Cup finals three times.

Football (soccer) is popular in Romania with international footballers such as Gheorghe Hagi who played for Steaua Bucuresti (Romania), Real Madrid, Barcelona (Spain) and Galatasaray (Turkey) among others. The Romanian soccer club Steaua Bucureşti was the first Eastern European club to ever win the prestigious European Champions Cup title (1986).

Rugby Union is also traditional.

Demographics

Main article: Demographics of Romania

Ethnicity

Ethnic groups (Census 2002):

• Romanians 89.5%
• Hungarian 6.6%
• Roma 2.5%
• Ukrainian 0.3%
• German 0.3%
• Russian 0.2%
• Turkish 0.2%
• Other 0.4%

Other ethnic groups include natives of Romania's neighbouring countries and some smaller groups like the Polish minority (numbering a few thousand people) living in Suceava County.

According to official declarations, ethnic minorities can use their native language in education. Ethnic minorities are offered native language access to public administration in towns and villages where they make up for more than 20% of the population. In towns and villages where they make up for more than 30% of the population, local council meetings can be held in the minority language, provided that translation into Romanian is provided, and that official minutes are kept in Romanian (cf. the Public Administration Law, link below).

On the other hand, some members and observers of minor ethnic minorities (e.g.) Roma claim that their numbers are undercounted in national censuses , , .

Language

The official language is Romanian, a Romance language of the Italic subfamily of the family of Indo-European languages, which are also called Romanic, Romantic or Romance languages. This language family includes French, Spanish, Catalan, Italian and Portuguese; its languages are spoken by about 670 million people in many parts of the world, but mainly in Europe and the Western Hemisphere. About 35 million people worldwide speak Romanian, mostly in Romania and Moldova (4,500,000).

A sizeable Hungarian minority in Transylvania speaks Hungarian as well as Romanian; until the 1990s, there were also a substantial number of German-speaking Transylvanian Saxons, but in exchange for payments to the Communist regime many left to West Germany and most of the remainder have left the country since the fall of communism and the accompanying opening of borders.

The Romanian educational system puts a strong emphasis on foreign languages, and Radio România Internaţional broadcasts in Arabic, Armenian, Aromanian, Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Russian, Serbian, Spanish, and Ukrainian (broadcasts in Bulgarian, Greek, Hungarian, Portuguese and Turkish ended in late March 2004).

According to the Eurobarometer Report "Europeans and Languages" (Sept. 2005) more than a quarter of Romanians understand and speak English and 17% French. Besides, Romania is a member of the Organisation de la Francophonie, with Bucharest being the host of the Summit of Francophony in 2006.

In terms of foreign languages, 5 million Romanians speak English, 4-5 million speak French, 1.5 million speak German, 2 million speak Italian, and 1 million speak Spanish. Historically, French was the leading foreign language for Romanians to study; now it is English, so that, as a group, Romanian English-speakers are generally younger than Romanian French-speakers.

Religion

Religions (2002 Census):

• Romanian Orthodox - 86.8%
• Roman Catholic - 4.5%
• Protestant - 3.7%
• Pentecostal - 1.5%
• Greek-Catholic Uniate - 0.9%

Most Romanians are members of the Romanian Orthodox Church, which is one of the churches of Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Catholicism (both Roman Catholic and Greek Catholic) and Protestantism are also represented.

In Dobrogea, the region lying on the shore of the Black Sea, there is a small Muslim minority (of Turkish and Tatar ethnicity), which is a remnant of the Ottoman rule and migrations from Crimea, respectively.

Culture

Main article: Culture of Romania

• Culture of Moldova
• Romanian culture
• Sibiu

The 12th Summit Meeting of the Francophonie

Romania will host, in November 2006, the 12th Sommet de la Francophonie / Summit of the Francophone World in Bucharest.

See also:

• Art of Romania
• Christmas customs in Romania
• List of Romanians
• Literature of Romania
• Music of Romania
• Romanian-American
• Romanian-Canadian
• Romanian-Australian
• Romanian poets
• Tourism in Romania

Media and Television

Main article: Romanian media

See also:

• List of Romanian newspapers
• List of Romanian language television channels

There are many TV stations in Romania like: TVR 1, TVR 2, TVR Cultural, TVR International, PRO TV, PRO Cinema, Acasa , Antena 1, Antena 3 (Romania), Euforia TV - Antena 4, Prima TV, Realitatea TV, National TV, N24, B1 TV, Telesport, TV Sport, Oglinda TV (OTV), Etno TV.

Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2006

Romania will host, on 2 December 2006, the international Junior Eurovision Song Contest. The Romanian broadcaster has been chosen by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) for being the organizator of the 4th edition of the contest. For the first time, Romania will be the host of such an event and a show produced by TVR will be broadcasted live all over Europe, in the countries member of EBU.

Gallery

Miscellaneous topics

• List of Romania-related topics

Romanian unique products

International rankings

• A.T. Kearney/Foreign Policy Magazine: Globalization Index 2005, ranked 35 out of 62 countries
• Bertelsmann: Bertelsmann Transformation Index 2006, ranked 19th out of 119 countries
• IMD International: World Competitiveness Yearbook 2005, ranked 55 out of 60 economies (countries and regions)
• Reporters without borders: Annual worldwide press freedom index (2005), ranked 70 out of 167 countries
• The Wall Street Journal: 2006 Index of Economic Freedom, ranked 92 out of 157 countries
• The Economist: The World in 2005 - Worldwide quality-of-life index, 2005, ranked 58 out of 111 countries
• Transparency International: Corruption Perceptions Index 2005, ranked 85 out of 158 countries (tied with Mongolia and Dominican Republic)
• World Economic Forum: Global Competitiveness Report 2005-2006 - Growth Competitiveness Index Ranking, ranked 67 out of 117 countries
• World Bank: Doing Business 2006, ranked 78th out of 155
• World Bank: Ease of Starting a Business in Romania, ranked 8th out of 155
• United Nations Conference on Trade and Development: Foreign Direct Investment Performance Index 2004, ranked 35th out of 140

Notes

1. Monthly Statistical Indicators, January 2006, National Institute of Statistics
2. Template:Ro icon Turismul a atras în 2005 investiţii de 400 milioane de euro, Gândul, January 11, 2006
3. Romania Forgives $2 Billion of Iraq Debt, Arab News, August 19, 2005
   Template:Ro icon Aurul, petrolul şi regăţenii, Gândul, August 24, 2005

External links

Official links

• Official site of the Romanian government
• Presidency of Romania
• The Romanian Senate
• The House of Deputies
• The Romanian Senate
• The Romanian Ministry of Defence
• Tourism Ministry
• Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• 2002 Census
• CIA World Factbook–Romania

Travel guides

• Romania - journals, stories, travel photography
• Template:Wikitravel
• Lonely Planet Guide - Romania
• Romania Travel
• www.turism.ro
• Bucovina and Moldavia - Cultural Heritage and Religious Tourism Programmes
• Sibiu/Hermanstadt, European Cultural Capital in 2007

Economy links

• Exchange Rates - from the National Bank of Romania
• Information about redenomination
• Business informations from The Romanian Chamber of Commerce

Timelines links

• Chronology of Romania from the World History Database

Template:Romania tie

Template:Danube Countries

• Danube Countries
• Romania
• Black Sea countries