| Official name: | ROMANIA |
| Official language: | Romanian |
| Geographical position: | Romania is situated in the South-eastern part of Central Europe, in the Northern part of Balkan Peninsula, inside and outside of the Carpathians Mountains, on the Danube lower course, bordering the Black See. The 45o parallel North latitude and the 25o East line of longitude are crossing Romania. |
| Climate: | The climate is temperate continental, with slight ocean influence in the West, Mediterranean in the South/West and excessively continental in the North/East. |
| Standard time: | Eastern European zone time GMT +2 hours (Daylight saving time GMT +3 hours) |
| Area: | Total area: 238,391 sq km (12th in Europe, and the 81st in the world) |
| Neighbours: | Romania lies between Ukraine and Bulgaria and adjoins the Black Sea to the east. Romania is bordering Bulgaria (by the Danube), Serbia, Hungary, Moldova, and Ukraine Republic |
| Form of government: | The Parliament: two-chamber Parliament: Chamber of Deputies and Senate |
| National Flag: | Three equal vertical stripes, next to the staff blue, yellow and red. |
| Capital city: | Bucharest, since 1862 - population 1,934,449 (July 1, 2002) |
| Main cities: | Iasi; Constanta; Cluj-Napoca; Timisoara; Galati; Craiova; Brasov; Ploiesti; Braila. |
| Administrative divisions: | 41 counties, plus the capital Bucharest (with a county status) |
| Transport: | Road network: about 78,500 Km Railway
network: about 11,000 km Ports: 18, including 6 international Ports from witch 2 on the Black Sea Airports: Bucharest-Otopeni, Bucharest-Baneasa, Constanta, Timisoara, Bacau, Baia Mare, Caransebes, Cluj-Napoca, Craiova, Deva, Iasi, Oradea, Satu Mare, T�rgu Mures, Tulcea, Suceava, Arad, Sibiu. |
| Currency: | The Leu (Plural Lei) Currency code: RON (Romanian New), replacing ROL (Romanian Leu) after July 1st, 2005 (1 RON = 10000 ROL) |
| Population: | 21,794,793 (July 2002), 93.9 inh./sq.km. Urbanization: 54.6% |
| Education: | Education has a long and rich tradition in Romania. The literacy is close to 100% since 1989. |
| Religion: | Orthodox 86.8%, Greek-Catholic 1%, Roman-Catholic 5.0%, Reformed 3.5%, Others 3.7% |
| Weights and measures: | The metric system, in force since 1866. |
| EUROPEAN UNION ACCESSION: |
1995, February 1st The European Agreement
enters into force; 1995, June - Romania officially apply for EU membership 2004, December 17 - The Brussels European Council decided the conclusion of the accession negotiations with Romania 2005, April 25 - during an official ceremony, that took place at Neumunster Abbey in Luxembourg, the President of Romania ,Traian Basescu ,signed the Treaty of Accession to European Union . 2007, January 1st 2007 - Romania joined The European Union. |
