Official name
Romania
Population
22,303,552 (2006 estimate)
Area
237,500 sq km
Capital
Bucharest 1,926,334 (2002)
Population growth rate
-0.12 percent (2006 estimate)
GDP per capita (U.S.$)
$3,370 (2004)
GDP by economic sector
Agriculture, forestry, fishing 14.4 percent (2004)
Industry 36.8 percent (2004)
Services 48.8 percent (2004)
Natural resources
Petroleum (reserves declining), timber,
natural gas, coal, iron ore, salt,
arable land, hydropower
Languages
Romanian (official),
Hungarian, German, Romani
Religious affiliations
Orthodox Christian 70 percent
Roman Catholic 6 percent
Protestant 6 percent
Atheist 3 percent
Muslim 1 percent
Non-religious 7 percent
Other 7 percent
Introduction
Romania (Romanian: România) is a country in south eastern Europe, occupying the part north eastern from the Balkan Peninsula . Romania is a land of historic villages and castles, fertile plains, and majestic mountains. For much of its history, foreign powers, including the Ottoman Empire and Austria-Hungary, have controlled Romania or parts of it.
Romania shares borders with Bulgaria to the south, Serbia to the south west, Hungary to the north west, Ukraine to the north, and Moldova to the north east. In the south east, sandy beaches and seaside resorts line Romania’s short coastline along the Black Sea. The Danube River, a link of central Europe with the Black and Mediterranean sea, forms much of Romania’s southern and south western borders with Bulgaria and Serbia.
Romania’s landscape is dominated by the Carpathian Mountains, a great mountain system that cuts through the country in a circular arc and covers about one-third of Romania’s total area. The thickly forested mountains boast large populations of bears, wolves, lynx, deer, and wild boar. Romanians, ethnic majority, make 89,5% of the population. Two largest ethnic minorities are Hungarians (6,6%) and Gypsies (2%).
History
Romanian culture reflects the blending of various cultural traditions over many centuries. When the Roman Empire conquered Romania in 106 AD to form the province of Dacia, the native Thracian people adopted the Latin language and many other basic features of Roman life. Romanians are the only people of Eastern Europe who trace their language and ancestry back to the ancient Romans. Early Roman influence was later challenged by Slav, Greek, Turkish, and Hungarian influences. During the Middle Ages, Byzantine influence was profound (Byzantine Empire), and it remains visible today in the country’s picturesque castles and churches and in the predominance of the Orthodox Church. The famous painted monasteries of Bukovina, with their brilliant exterior frescoes, are among Europe’s greatest medieval monuments.
The modern country of Romania was created in 1859. It became fully independent in 1878. Romania was a kingdom from 1881 to 1947. In 1948 communists took control of Romania and modelled the government and economy after those of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR, or Soviet Union). In the 1960s Romania’s communist leaders began to distance themselves from the Soviet Union and develop independent domestic and foreign policies. Romania’s economy grew rapidly during the 1960s and 1970s. However, by the 1980s economic growth had given way to stagnation, food shortages and other economic hardships, and severe political repression.
In 1989 Romanians revolted against the dictatorship of Nicolae Ceauşescu, the country’s president and leader of the Romanian Communist Party. Ceauşescu and his wife were executed in December 1989, and a non communist government was installed. The first free multi party elections took place in Romania in 1990. Since that time, Romania’s government has taken steps toward economic and democratic reforms, although the pace of reform has been slow and uneven. In March 2004 Romania formally joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The country opened membership negotiations with the European Union (EU) in 1999 and formally became a member at the beginning of 2007.
Environmental Issues
Air pollution and water pollution caused by industry are serious environmental problems in Romania. The country’s factories, chemical plants, and electric power plants depend heavily on burning fossil fuels, a process that emits high levels of carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide - a key component of acid rain. The industrial centers of Copşa Mică, in central Romania, and Giurgiu, in the south, have severe air pollution problems. Bucharest, the capital, also has serious air pollution. Much of the nation’s industrial runoff ends up in the Danube river system, making water unsafe for drinking and threatening the diverse ecosystems of the Danube delta. The delta, the largest in Europe, was declared a World Heritage Site in 1991. Its lakes and marshes are home to hundreds of species of birds and dozens of fish and reptile species, many of which are threatened with extinction.
Poor farming practices, especially infrequent crop rotation, have led to severe soil degradation and erosion in parts of Romania, although today, nearly half of all Romanians still live out of farming, in rural areas. In the 1980s large tracts of marshland lining the Danube were drained and converted to crop land to aid food production. Deforestation, however, is not a serious problem in Romania, where forests cover 27.7 percent of the land. Romania has already started investing in clean energy, such as solar, wind and hydro energy sources. Also, several projects on using geothermal energy have already been implemented in the country.
Romania is indeed rich in biodiversity, particularly in the broad Danube delta, the largest delta in Europe, which is reserve of water plants, wetland ecosystem and swamp haven for both flora and fauna. This region has excellent opportunities for eco-tourism, especially for birdwatchers. Moreover, Romania has one of the largest undisturbed forest area in the world (13% of the country – half of total forest land), and 5% of a total country area represents protected land.
Climate change consequences
Romania suffers great consequences of climate change in a form of tornadoes, floods and desertification. The country has had records of occasional tornadoes since late 19th century but in the last few years number of tornado-force winds beat all the previous records, with 9 tornadoes in less than a year, during 2005. Floods in Romania also became frequent and abundant, taking many lives, affecting over 1500 settlements, and causing thousands evacuations. Yet another serious effect of changes in a global climate regime is drought that has been predicted to turn Romanian region Dobrudgia into a desert, within the next 100 years.
