Romania is a country in southeastern Europe . It is bordered by Ukraine and Moldova in the northeast, Hungary and Serbia in the west and Bulgaria to the south. Romania also has a stretch of sea coast on the Black Sea .

Geography

A large part of Romania's borders with Serbia and Bulgaria is formed by the Danube . The Danube is joined by the Prut River , which forms the border with Moldova .

The Carpathian Mountains dominate the western part of Romania, with peaks up to 2,500 m, the highest, Moldoveanu , reaching 2,544 m.

Major cities are the capital Bucharest , Brasov , Timisoara , Cluj-Napoca , Constanta , Craiova , and Iasi .

See also:

• List of Romanian Cities
• Rivers of Romania
• Lakes of Romania

Economy

After the collapse of the Eastern Bloc in 1989 - 91 , Romania was left with an obsolete industrial base and a pattern of industrial capacity wholly unsuited to its needs. In February 1997 , it embarked on a comprehensive macroeconomic stabilisation and structural reform programme, but reform subsequently has been a frustrating stop-and-go process. Restructuring programs include liquidating large energy-intensive industries and major agricultural and financial sector reforms.

Romania's lagging and unstable economy of the 1990s has been transformed into one with macroeconomic stability, high growth and low unemployment, although a high inflation rate of 9.2% ( as of 2004 ) remains a problem. 2002 and 2003 were successful economic years, and currently GDP growth is forecast at 5.5% per annum. The economy grew by 8.3% in 2004 , the fastest growth in the post-Communist era. Foreign direct investments reached EUR 4,1 billion in 2004. Romania was granted in October 2004 the much desired 'functional market economy ' status by EU officials. Romania is expected to join the EU in 2007 .

In January 2005 , Romania's new Tariceanu government imposed major fiscal reforms, replacing Romania's progressive tax system with a 16% flat tax on both personal income and company profit. Romania now has one of the most liberal taxation systems in Europe, and this, along with increased foreign investment, is expected to boost economic growth in the coming years, as well as lower corruption and bring to light the grey economy .

The average gross wage per month in Romania is 9,733,512 lei as of December 2004 , an increase of 12.2% over the previous month. This equates to 258.43 euro , US$337.06 and 434.68 AUD . The average net salary per month in December 2004 was 6,875,094 lei/687,5 RON.

Unemployment in Romania is at 6.2% ( 2004 ), which is very low compared to other large European countries such as Poland , France or Germany .

Despite the improvements in macroeconomics, privatisation and fiscal policy of the last few years, corruption remains a major problem at all levels and threatens to stifle economic growth. Additionally, lack of transparency in public spending and lack of competitivity in the agricultural sector remain problems.

Romania's legal tender is the LEU (plural LEI). On 1 July 2005 , the leu will be subject to redenomination so that 10,000 old lei, in circulation on that date, shall be exchanged for 1 new leu. The existing banknotes and coins, i.e. the old lei, will be legal tender until end-December 2006. By 31 December 2006 , the existing banknotes and coins, i.e. the old lei, are to be replaced gradually by the new banknotes and coins. The ISO code for the old currency, ROL (Romanian Leu) will be replaced with RON (Romanian New). The process will prepare Romania or euro-adoption. The new currency is expected to be used for a few years only, before Romania, a European Union candidate, will adopt the Euro as legal tender (expected by 2012).

Demographics

Ethnic groups (2002 est.):

• Romanian 89.5%
• Hungarian 6.6%
• Rroma 2.5%
• Ukrainian 0.3%
• German 0.3%
• Russian 0.2%
• Turkish and Tatar 0.2%
• Other 0.4%

Religions (2002 est.):

• Romanian Orthodox - 86.7%
• Roman Catholic - 4.7%
• Protestant - 3.7%
• Pentecostal - 1.5%
• Greek Catholic - Uniate - 0.9%

The official language is Romanian , a Romance language of the Italic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages, which are also called Romanic, and are spoken by about 670 million people in many parts of the world, but mainly in Europe and the Western Hemisphere.

Sizeable minorities of Hungarian and German descent, mostly in Transylvania, also speak Hungarian and German . Other ethnic groups include Rroma and natives of Romania's neighbouring countries. There are also some other like Polish minority (numbering a few thousand people) living in Suceava County .

The true size of the Rroma population is unknown because it is undercounted in national censuses (for various reasons, some Rroma choose to declare themselves as Romanians or Hungarians; usually the criterion is based on a terse individual population count). The Rroma people are commonly known in Romania as tigani (tsigany).

Most Romanians are members of the Romanian Orthodox Church , which is one of the churches of Eastern Orthodox Christianity . Catholicism (both Roman Catholic and Romanian Catholic ) and Protestantism are also represented, mostly in the areas inhabited by population closer to western influence.

In Dobrogea, the region lying on the shore of the Black Sea, there is a small Muslim minority (of Turkish and Tatar ethnicity), a remnant of the Ottoman rule and migrations from Crimea , respectively.