Romania

Name of the country: Romania

Capital city: Bucharest (with a population of 2,027,512 in year 2000)

Geographic position: in the South-East of Central Europe

Geography: Romania is bordered to the north and east by Moldova and Ukraine, the southeast by the Black Sea, the south by Bulgaria, the southwest by Serbia and Montenegro and in the west by Hungary.

The country is divided into four geographical areas. Transylvania (a belt of Alpine massifs and forests) and Moldavia compose the northern half of the country, which is divided down the middle by the north-south strip of the Carpathian Mountains. South of the east-west line of the Carpathians lies the flat Danube plain of Walachia with the capital Bucharest, its border with Bulgaria being defined by the course of the Danube.

Romania's coastline is along the Black Sea, incorporating the port of Constanta and the Danube Delta.

Climate: temperate, four seasons: spring, summer, autumn, winter

Population: 22,520,000 people (as of January 1, 1998)

Ethnic structure: Romanians - 89.4%; Hungarians (including Szeklers) - 7.1%; Gypsies - 1.8%; other ethnic groups - 1.7% Religious structure: Eastern Orthodox - 86.8%; Roman-Catholic - 5.0%; Reformed - 3.5%; Greek-Catholic - 1.0%, Evangelic - 0.3%; Unitarian - 0.3%; other religions - 3.1%

Language: Romanian is the official language. Hungarian is widely spoken in Szekelyföld (Eastern Transylvania), as well as in other Transylvanian areas inhabited by ethnic Hungarians. German is spoken by Saxons living in Southern Transylvania. Ukrainean and Russian are spoken near the border with Ukraine, as well as in the Danube Delta area. Other minority languages include Serbo-Croatian, Polish, Bulgarian and Turkish.

Form of government: parliamentary republic Flag: red, yellow, blue-vertical, equally positioned, with blue at the mast State anthem: "Desteapte-te, române!" (En. "Awaken, Ye Romanian!")

Form of state: Parliamentary republic Legislative power: bicameral Parliament consisting of a Senate, 143 members, and a Chamber of Deputies, 343 members

Executive power: The Government of Romania: a Prime Minister, 24 ministers and 2 minister-delegates.

Time: GMT + 2 (GMT + 3 from last Sunday in March to Saturday before last Sunday in October).

Electricity: 220 volts AC, 50Hz. Plugs are of the two-pin type.

Telephone: IDD is available. Country code: 40. Outgoing international code: 00. Public telephones are widely available and can be used for direct international calls.

Mobile telephone: GSM 900/1800 networks. Network operators include Orange (website: www.mobil-rom.com) and Connex (website: www.connex.ro), Cosmorom (www.cosmorom.com), Zapp (www.zapp.ro)

Post: Airmail to Western Europe takes 1 week. Post offices are open daily, including Saturday mornings.

Press: English newspapers and publications include Nine O'Clock, Bucharest Business Week and Romanian Economic Daily. There are a great number of daily and weekly newspapers published in Romanian, Hungarian and German.