Few words

About Romania

Official Name: Romania

Location: (Southeastern) Central Europe

Time Zone: Seven hours ahead of U.S. Eastern Standard Time (GMT + 2)

Area: 92,043 sq. miles (238,391 sq. km)

Flag of Romania: Three vertical stripes: red, yellow and blue.

Population: 19,651,000 (March 2014)

Main Ethnic Groups: Romanian 84%, Hungarian 6.1%, Rromani 3.1%, German 0.2%, Ukrainian 0.2%

Religions: Christian Orthodox 81%, Roman Catholic 4.3%, Reformed 3%, Greek-Catholic 0.7%, Unitarian 0.3%, Jewish, other.

Official Language: Romanian

Currency: Romanian Leu (RON) ( plural Lei )

Climate: Temperate, four distinct seasons

Capital: Bucharest (București)

Form of State: Romania is a semi-parliamentary democracy based on a bicameral Parliament: the Chamber of Representatives (Camera Deputaţilor) and the Senate (Senat).  All members of the legislature are directly elected from Romania’s 41 counties.)

Legal system: Based on European models and Constitution of 1991.

Head of State: President of the Republic, currently Mr. Traian Basescu (re-elected on December 6, 2009). Romania’s president is allowed to serve two consecutive five-year terms.

Head of the Government: the Prime Minister, currently  Mr. Victor Ponta (Social-Democratic Party).

Regional Government: Forty-one County Councils (Consiliu Judeţean).

Romania is a member state of the  European Union and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

Romania is a unitary semi-presidential republic located in Southeastern Europe, bordering the Black Sea, between Bulgaria and Ukraine. It also borders Hungary, Serbia, and Moldova. It covers 238,391 square kilometres (92,043 sq mi) and has a temperate-continental climate. With its 19.94 million inhabitants, it is the seventh most populous member state of the European Union. Its capital and largest city, Bucharest, is the sixth largest city in the EU. The River Danube, which is Europe's second longest river after the Volga, rises in Germany and flows southeastwards for a distance of 2,857 km, coursing through ten countries before emptying in Romania's Danube Delta. Some of its 1,075 km length bordering the country drains the whole of it. The Carpathian Mountains, with their tallest peak Moldoveanu at 2,544 m (8,346 ft), cross Romania from the north to the southwest.

Modern Romania emerged within the territories of the ancient Roman province of Dacia, and was formed in 1859 through a personal union of the Danubian Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia. The new state, officially named Romania since 1866, gained independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1877. At the end of World War I, Transylvania, Bukovina and Bessarabia united with the sovereign Kingdom of Romania. During World War II, Romania was an ally of Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union, fighting side by side with the Wehrmacht until 1944, then it joined the Allied powers after being occupied by the Red Army forces. After the war, Romania became a socialist republic and member of the Warsaw Pact. After the 1989 Revolution, Romania began a transition back towards democracy and a capitalist market economy.

Tourism is a significant contributor to the Romanian economy, generating around 5% of GDP. According to the World Travel and Tourism Council, Romania was estimated to have the fourth fastest growing travel and tourism total demand in the world, with an estimated potential growth of 8% per year from 2007 to 2016. The number of tourist has been rising, reaching 3.5 million in the first half of 2014. Tourism in Romania attracted €400 million in investments in 2005.

More than 60% of the foreign visitors in 2007 were from other EU countries. Popular summer attractions of Mamaia and other Black Sea Resorts attracted 1.3 million tourists in 2009. Most popular skiing resorts are along the Valea Prahovei and in Poiana Brașov.Castles in Transylvanian cities such as Sibiu, Brașov, and Sighișoara. Rural tourism, focusing on folklore and traditions, has become an important alternative, and is targeted to promote such sites as Bran and its Dracula's Castle, the Painted churches of Northern Moldavia, and the Wooden churches of Maramureș. Other attractions include Danube Delta, and Sculptural Ensemble of Constantin Brâncuși at Târgu Jiu.