ABOUT ROMANIA
KEY INFORMATION

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 45^o parallel North latitude and the 25^o 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)

Weights and measures:

• The metric system, in force since 1866.

Area:

• Total area: 238,391 sq km (12th in Europe, and the 81st in the world)

Neighbours:

• East: Republic of Moldova, Ukraine, and the Black Sea
• West: Hungary, Yugoslavia
• South: Bulgaria
• North: Ukraine

Population:

• Inhabitants number: 21,794,793 (July 1, 2002)
• Urbanization: 54.6%

Education:

• Education has a long and rich tradition in Romania. The literacy is close to 100% since 1989.

Form of government:

• Republic

Capital city:

• Bucharest, since 1862 - population 1,934,449 (July 1, 2002)

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
• Airports: 18, including 6 international
• Ports: 2 on the Black Sea and 17 on the Danube

Currency:

• The Leu (Plural Lei)
• Currency code: RON (Romanian New), replacing ROL (Romanian Leu) after July 1^st, 2005 (1 RON = 10000 ROL)