The Republic of Romania is country of Southeast Europe, at the Black Sea. It has borders with Ukraine, Hungary, Serbia and Bulgaria. Carpathians extend through the north, east and center of Romania. Carpathians are surrounded by a ring of fertile lowlands, flat in the south and west, and undulating in the east. The heart of Romania is province of Transylvania inside of the Carpathian arc. The climate is characterized by cold and strong winters, on the one hand, and hot summers, on the other. In Romania, husbandry is neglected in favor of its industry: however, there are some maize, sugar beet, wheat, potatoes and viticulture. A good part of the industry is still state-owned. Beside the mines, there are metallurgy, mechanical engineering and chemical industries. Dense forests provide timber and materials for furniture factory in the Carpathians.
AREA: 237,500 km²
POPULATION: over 22.3 million
IMPORTANT NATURAL FEATURES:
THE HIGHEST PEAK: Moldoveanu
THE LONGEST RIVERS: Danube, Prut
THE LARGEST CITIES: Bucharest, Iasi, Galati, Constanta, Timisoara, Cluj-Napoca, Craiova
OFFICIAL LANGUAGE: Romanian
STATE SYSTEM: multiparty republic with a bicameral parliament
THE ETHNIC COMPOSITION: Romanians (89.1%), Hungarians (8.9%), Germans (0.4%), others (1.6%)
CURRENCY: lev = 100 bania
IMPORTANT SOURCES OF INCOME: oil, coal, gas, wood, salt, iron ore, bauxite, lead, zinc, uranium, grain