Map of Romania | Geography | People | Government | Economy | Energy | Communication
Military | Transportation | Transnational Issues | Year: Guide198919901991199219931994199519961997199819992000200120022003200420052006200720082009201020112012201320142015201620172018201920202021202220232024 | 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
Total: 237,500 km²
Land: 230,340 km²

Land boundaries: total 2,508 km, Bulgaria 608 km, Hungary 443 km, Moldova 450 km, Serbia and Montenegro 476 km (all with Serbia), Ukraine (north) 362 km, Ukraine (south) 169 km

Coastline: 225 km
Contiguous zone: 24 nm
Continental shelf: 200 m depth or to depth of exploitation
Exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
Territorial sea: 12 nm

Maritime claims

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

Terrain:

Elevation

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

Land use
Arable land: 43%
Permanent crops: 3%
Meadows and pastures: 19%
Forest and woodland: 28%
Other: 7%

Irrigated land: 34,500 km² (1989 est.)

Major rivers

Major watersheds area km²

Total water withdrawal

Total renewable water resources

Natural hazards

Geography


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Population: 23,172,362 (July 1993 est.)

Nationality
Noun: Romanian(s)
Adjective: Romanian

Ethnic groups:

Languages: Romanian, Hungarian, German

Religions:

Demographic profile

Age structure

Dependency ratios

Median age

Population growth rate

Birth rate: 13.66 births/1000 population (1993 est.)

Death rate: 10.17 deaths/1000 population (1993 est.)

Net migration rate: -3.27 migrant(s)/1000 population (1993 est.)

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
Current issues note:

Air pollutants

Sex ratio

Mothers mean age at first birth

Maternal mortality ratio

Infant mortality rate: 21.2 deaths/1000 live births (1993 est.)

Life expectancy at birth
Total population: 71.25 years
Male: 68.32 years
Female: 74.34 years (1993 est.)

Total fertility rate: 1.83 children born/woman (1993 est.)

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: age 15 and over can read and write (1978)
Total population: 98%
Male: NA%
Female: NA%

School life expectancy primary to tertiary education

Youth unemployment


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Country name
Conventional long form: none
Conventional short form: Romania
Local long form: none
Local short form: Romania

Government type

Capital: Bucharest

Administrative divisions:

Dependent areas

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

National holiday: National Day of Romania, 1 December (1990)

Constitution: 8 December 1991

Legal system: former mixture of civil law system and Communist legal theory that increasingly reflected Romanian traditions is being revised

International law organization participation

Citizenship

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal

Executive branch: president, prime minister, Council of Ministers (cabinet)

Legislative branch: bicameral Parliament consists of an upper house or Senate (Senat) and a lower house or House of Deputies (Adunarea Deputatilor)

Judicial branch: Supreme Court of Justice, Constitutional Court Chief of State: President Ion ILIESCU (since 20 June 1990, previously President of Provisional Council of National Unity since 23 December 1989) Head of Government: Prime Minister Nicolae VACAROIU (since November 1992)

Political parties and leaders

International organization participation:

Diplomatic representation
In the us chief of mission: Ambassador Aurel-Dragos MUNTEANU
In the us chancery: 1607 23rd Street NW, Washington, DC 20,008
In the us telephone: (202) 232-4,747, 6,634, 5,693
In the us fax: (202) 232-4,748
From the us chief of mission: Ambassador John R. DAVIS, Jr.
From the us embassy: Strada Tudor Arghezi 7-9, Bucharest
From the us mailing address: AmConGen (Buch), Unit 25,402, APO AE 9,213-5,260
From the us telephone: 40 (0) 10-40-40
From the us fax: 40 (0) 12-03-95

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 about one-third of the labor force and generates over half the GDP, suffers from an aging capital plant and persistent shortages of energy. The year 1991 witnessed a 17% drop in industrial production because of energy and input shortages and labor unrest. In recent years the agricultural sector has had to contend with flooding, mismanagement, shortages of inputs, and disarray caused by the dismantling of cooperatives. A shortage of inputs and a severe drought in 1991 contributed to a poor harvest, a problem compounded by corruption and an obsolete distribution system. The new government has instituted moderate land reforms, with more than one-half of cropland now in private hands, and it has liberalized private agricultural output. Private enterprises form an increasingly important portion of the economy largely in services, handicrafts, and small-scale industry. Little progress on large scale privatization has been made since a law providing for the privatization of large state firms was passed in August 1991. Most of the large state firms have been converted into joint-stock companies, but the selling of shares and assets to private owners has been delayed. While the government has halted the old policy of diverting food from domestic consumption to hard currency export markets, supplies remain scarce in some areas. The new government continues to impose price ceilings on key consumer items. In 1992 the economy muddled along toward the new, more open system, yet output and living standards continued to

Real gdp purchasing power parity

Real gdp growth rate: -15% (1992 est.)

Real gdp per capita: $2,700 (1992 est.)

Gross national saving

Gdp composition by end use

Gdp composition by sector of origin

Agriculture products: accounts for 18% of GDP 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 production and refining

Industrial production growth rate:

Labor force: 10,945,700
By occupation industry: 38%
By occupation agriculture: 28%
By occupation other: 34% (1989)

Unemployment rate: 9% (January 1993)

Youth unemployment

Population below poverty line

Gini index

Household income or consumption by percentage share

Distribution of family income gini index

Budget: revenues $19 billion; expenditures $20 billion, including capital expenditures of $2.1 billion (1991 est.)

Taxes and other revenues

Public debt

Revenue

Fiscal year: calendar year gauge, 45 km broad gauge; 3,411 km electrified, 3,060 km double track; government owned (1987)

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: $3.5 billion (f.o.b., 1991)
Commodoties: machinery and equipment 29.3%, fuels, minerals and metals 32.1%, manufactured consumer goods 18.1%, agricultural materials and forestry products 9.0%, other 11.5% (1989)
Partners: USSR 27%, Eastern Europe 23%, EC 15%, US 5%, China 4% (1987)

Imports: $5.1 billion (f.o.b., 1991)
Commodoties: fuels, minerals, and metals 56.0%, machinery and equipment 25.5%, agricultural and forestry products 8.6%, manufactured consumer goods 3.4%, other 6.5% (1989)
Partners: Communist countries 60%, non-Communist countries 40% (1987)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold

Debt external

Stock of direct foreign investment at home

Stock of direct foreign investment abroad

Exchange rates: lei (L) per US$1 - 470.10 (January 1993), 307.95 (1992), 76.39 (1991), 22.432 (1990), 14.922 (1989), 14.277 (1988)


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Electricity
Production: 22,500,000 kW capacity; 59,000 million kWh produced, 2,540 kWh per capita (1992)

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: 137 billion lei, 3% of GDP (1993; note - conversion of defense expenditures into US dollars using the current exchange rate could 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: 158
Usable: 158
With permanentsurface runways: 27
With runways over 3659 m: 0
With runways 2440-3659 m: 21
With runways 1220-2439 m: 26

Heliports

Pipelines: crude oil 2,800 km, petroleum products 1,429 km, natural gas 6,400 km (1992)

Railways

Roadways

Waterways: 1,724 km (1984)

Merchant marine:

Ports and terminals


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Disputes international: none

Refugees and internally displaced persons

Illicit drugs: transshipment point for southwest Asian heroin transiting the Balkan route