Map of Romania | Geography | People | Government | Economy | Energy | Communication
Military | Transportation | Transnational Issues | Year: Guide1989199019911992199319941995199619971998199920002001200220032004200520062007200820092010201120122013201420152016201720182019202020212022202320242025 | More stats

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Background: Soviet occupation following World War II led to the formation of a communist Peoples Republic in 1947 and the abdication of the king. The decades-long rule of President Nicolae CEAUSESCU became increasingly draconian through the 1980s. He was overthrown and executed in late 1989.


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Location

Geographic coordinates

Map reference

Area

Land boundaries: 2,904 km total; Bulgaria 608 km, Hungary 443 km, USSR 1,307 km, Yugoslavia 546 km

Coastline: 225 km

Maritime claims
Continental shelf: 200 meters or to depth of exploitation
Extended economic zone: 200 nm
Territorial sea: 12 nm

Climate: temperate; cold, cloudy winters with frequent snow and fog; sunny summers with frequent showers and thunderstorms

Terrain: central Transylvanian Basin is separated from the plain of Moldavia on the east by the Carpathian Mountains and separated from the Walachian Plain on the south by the Transylvanian Alps

Elevation

Natural resources: crude oil (reserves being exhausted), timber, natural gas, coal, iron ore, salt

Land use: 43% arable land; 3% permanent crops; 19% meadows and pastures; 28% forest and woodland; 7% other; includes 11% irrigated

Irrigated land

Major rivers

Major watersheds area km²

Total water withdrawal

Total renewable water resources

Natural hazards

Geography
Note: controls most easily traversable land route between the Balkans and western USSR


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Population: 23,273,285 (July 1990), growth rate 0.5% (1990)

Nationality: noun--Romanian(s; adjective--Romanian

Ethnic groups: 89.1% Romanian; 7.8% Hungarian; 1.5% German; 1.6% Ukrainian, Serb, Croat, Russian, Turk, and Gypsy

Languages: Romanian, Hungarian, German

Religions: 80% Romanian Orthodox; 6% Roman Catholic; 4% Calvinist, Lutheran, Jewish, Baptist

Demographic profile

Age structure

Dependency ratios

Median age

Population growth rate

Birth rate: 16 births/1000 population (1990)

Death rate: 10 deaths/1000 population (1990)

Net migration rate: - 1 migrants/1000 population (1990)

Population distribution

Urbanization

Major urban areas

Environment
Current issues: frequent earthquakes most severe in south and southwest; geologic structure and climate promote landslides, air pollution in south

Air pollutants

Sex ratio

Mothers mean age at first birth

Maternal mortality ratio

Infant mortality rate: 19 deaths/1000 live births (1990)

Life expectancy at birth: 69 years male, 75 years female (1990)

Total fertility rate: 2.2 children born/woman (1990)

Contraceptive prevalence rate

Drinking water source

Current health expenditure

Physicians density

Hospital bed density

Sanitation facility access

Hiv/Aids

Major infectious diseases

Obesity adult prevalence rate

Alcohol consumption

Tobacco use

Children under the age of 5 years underweight

Education expenditures

Literacy: 98%

School life expectancy primary to tertiary education

Youth unemployment


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Country name: conventional long form: none

Government type: former Communist state; current multiparty provisional government has scheduled a general democratic election for 20 May 1990

Capital: Bucharest

Administrative divisions: 40 counties (judete, singular--judet) and 1 municipality* (municipiu; Alba, Arad, Arges, Bacau, Bihor, Bistrita-Nasaud, Botosani, Braila, Brasov, Bucuresti*, Buzau, Calarasi, Caras-Severin, Cluj, Constanta, Covasna, Dimbovita, Dolj, Galati, Gorj, Giurgiu, Harghita, Hunedoara, Ialomita, Iasi, Maramures, Mehedinti, Mures, Neamt, Olt, Prahova, Salaj, Satu Mare, Sibiu, Suceava, Teleorman, Timis, Tulcea, Vaslui, Vilcea, Vrancea

Dependent areas

Independence: 1881 (from Turkey; republic proclaimed 30 December 1947

National holiday: Liberation Day, 23 August (1944; new national day to commemorate popular anti-Ceausescu uprising under discussion

Constitution: 21 August 1965; new constitution being drafted

Legal system: former mixture of civil law system and Communist legal theory that increasingly reflected Romanian traditions is being revised; Communist regime had not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction; Provisional Council of National Unity will probably accept ICJ jurisdiction

International law organization participation

Citizenship

Suffrage: universal at age 18

Executive branch: Chief of State--President of Provisional Council of National Unity Ion ILIESCU (since 23 December 1989; Head of Government--Prime Minister of Council of Ministers Petre ROMAN (since 23 December 1989)

Legislative branch: Romanian Army, Security Troops, Air and Air Defense Forces, Romanian Navy

Judicial branch: Supreme Court of Justice

Political parties and leaders

International organization participation: CCC, CEMA, FAO, G-77, GATT, IAEA, IBEC, IBRD, ICAO, IFAD, ILO, IMF, IMO, INTERPOL, IPU, ITC, ITU, UN, UNESCO, UPU, Warsaw Pact, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO

Diplomatic representation
In the us: Ambassador Virgil CONSTANTINESCU; Chancery at 1607 23rd Street NW, Washington DC 20,008; telephone (202) 232-4,747; US--Ambassador Alan GREEN, Jr., recalled to Washington May 1990; Embassy at Strada Tudor Arghezi 7-9, Bucharest (mailing address is APO New York 9,213; telephone p40o (0) 10-40-40

Flag description: three equal vertical bands of blue (hoist side), yellow, and red; the national coat of arms that used to be centered in the yellow band, has been removed; now similar to the flags of Andorra and Chad

National symbols

National anthem

National heritage


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Economy overview: Industry, which accounts for one-third of the labor force and generates over half the GNP, suffers from an aging capital plant and persistent shortages of energy. In recent years the agricultural sector has had to contend with drought, mismanagement, and shortages of inputs. Favorable weather in 1989 helped produce a good harvest, although far below government claims. The new government is slowly loosening the tight central controls of Ceausescu's command economy. It has instituted moderate land reforms, with close to one-third of cropland now in private hands, and it has allowed changes in prices for private agricultural output. Also, the new regime is permitting the establishment of private enterprises of 20 or fewer employees in services, handicrafts, and small-scale industry. Furthermore, the government has halted the old policy of diverting food from domestic consumption to hard currency export markets. So far, the government does not seem willing to adopt a thorough-going market system.

Real gdp purchasing power parity

Real gdp growth rate

Real gdp per capita

Gross national saving

Gdp composition by end use

Gdp composition by sector of origin

Agriculture products: accounts for 15% of GNP and 28% of labor force; major wheat and corn producer; other products--sugar beets, sunflower seed, potatoes, milk, eggs, meat, grapes

Industries: mining, timber, construction materials, metallurgy, chemicals, machine building, food processing, petroleum

Industrial production growth rate: 3.6% (1988)

Labor force:

Unemployment rate: NA%

Youth unemployment

Population below poverty line

Gini index

Household income or consumption by percentage share

Distribution of family income gini index

Budget: revenues $26 billion; expenditures $21.6 billion, including capital expenditures of $13.6 billion (1987)

Taxes and other revenues

Public debt

Revenue

Fiscal year: calendar year

Inflation rate consumer prices

Central bank discount rate

Commercial bank prime lending rate

Stock of narrow money

Stock of broad money

Stock of domestic credit

Market value of publicly traded shares

Current account balance

Exports: $11.5 billion (f.o.b., 1988)
Commodities: machinery and equipment 34.7%, fuels, minerals and metals 24.7%, manufactured consumer goods 16.9%, agricultural materials and forestry products 11.9%, other 11.6% (1986)
Partners: USSR 27%, Eastern Europe 23%, EC 15%, US 5%, China 4% (1987)

Imports: $8.75 billion (f.o.b., 1988)
Commodities: fuels, minerals, and metals 51.0%, machinery and equipment 26.7%, agricultural and forestry products 11.0%, manufactured consumer goods 4.2% (1986)
Partners: Communist countries 60%, non-Communist countries 40% (1987)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold

Debt external: none (mid-1989)

Stock of direct foreign investment at home

Stock of direct foreign investment abroad

Exchange rates: lei (L) per US$1--20.96 (February 1990), 14.922 (1989), 14.277 (1988), 14.557 (1987), 16.153 (1986), 17.141 (1985)


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Electricity
Capacity: 22,640,000 kW capacity; 80,000 million kWh produced, 3,440 kWh per capita (1989)

Coal

Petroleum

Crude oil

Refined petroleum

Natural gas

Carbon dioxide emissions

Energy consumption per capita


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Telephones

Telephone system

Broadcast media

Internet

Broadband fixed subscriptions


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Military expenditures
Percent of gdp: 11.8 billion lei, 2.8% of total budget (1989; note--conversion of the military budget into US dollars using the official administratively set exchange rate would produce misleading results

Military and security forces

Military service age and obligation

Space program

Terrorist groups


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National air transport system

Civil aircraft registration country code prefix

Airports: 165 total, 165 usable; 25 with permanent-surface runways; 15 with runways 2,440-3,659 m; 15 with runways 1,220-2,439 m

Heliports

Pipelines: 2,800 km crude oil; 1,429 km refined products; 6,400 km natural gas

Railways

Roadways

Waterways: 1,724 km (1984)

Merchant marine: 282 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 3,313,320 GRT/5,134,335 DWT; includes 1 passenger-cargo, 184 cargo, 1 container, 1 rail-car carrier, 14 roll-on/roll-off cargo, 2 livestock carrier, 10 petroleum, oils, and lubricants (POL) tanker, 69 bulk

Ports and terminals


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Disputes international: Transylvania question with Hungary; Bessarabia question with USSR

Refugees and internally displaced persons

Illicit drugs