General Information

• OFFICIAL NAME. Romania.
• GOVERNMENT. Republic with two Houses of Parliament.
• CAPITAL. Bucharest.
• LOCATION. Country located in the southeast of Europe, in the northern part of the Balkan Peninsula, inside the Danube river basin opening on the Black Sea.
• SURFACE. 238,391 sq. km (4.8% of Europe), 11th place in Europe, and 79th in the world.
• ADMINISTRATION OF THE COUNTRY: 40 administrative divisions and Bucharest.
• CLIMATE. Because of its position on the southeastern portion of the European continent, Romania has a climate that is transitional between temperate and continental.
• POPULATION. 21,698,181 inhabitants (2002). Romanians: 89.5%; Magyars: 6.6%; Rroms (gypsies): 2.5%; Germans: 0.3%; Ukrainians («Ruteni»): 0.3%; Russians («Lipoveni»): 0.2%; Turks: 0.2%; Tartars: 0.1%; Serbians: 0.1%; Slovaks: 0.1%.
• RELIGION. (2002) Orthodox: 86.7%; Roman Catholic: 4.7%; Greek Catholic: 0.9%; Protestant: 3.2%; Pentecostal: 1.5%; Baptist: 0.6%; the 7th-day Adventists: 0.4%; Unitarian: 0.3%; Muslim: 0.3%; Christians by Gospel: 0.2%; Old-rite Christians: 0.2%; Evangelist, Lutheran, Presbyterian: 0.1%; Mosaic: 6,197.
• OFFICIAL LANGUAGE: Romanian. Other languages used by minorities: Magyar, German (mainly). Languages of international circulation, such as English, French, German, Italian and Spanish, are also used in Romania.
• OFFICIAL HOUR. Summertime, GMT + 3 hours (from the last Sunday of March to the last Sunday of October); wintertime, GMT + 2 hours.
• LEGAL HOLIDAYS.
  - January 1 and 2;
  - Easter (regardless of cult);
  - December 1 – the National Day;
  - December 25 and 26 (Christmas