Romania Map

• With a GDP of around $254 billion and a GDP per capita (PPP) of $11,860 for the year 2010, Romania is an upper-middle income country economy and has been part of the European Union since 1 January 2007.

• After the Communist regime was overthrown in late 1989, the country experienced a decade of economic instability and decline, led in part by an obsolete industrial base and a lack of structural reform. From 2000 onwards, however, the Romanian economy was transformed into one of relative macroeconomic stability, characterised by high growth, low unemployment and declining inflation. In 2006, according to the Romanian Statistics Office, GDP growth in real terms was recorded at 7.7%, one of the highest rates in Europe. Growth dampened to 6.1% in 2007, but was expected to exceed 8% in 2008 because of a high production forecast in agriculture (30–50% higher than in 2007). The GDP grew by 8.9% in the first nine months of 2008, but growth fell to 2.9% in the fourth quarter and stood at 7.1% for the whole 2008 because of the financial crisis. Thereafter, the country fell into a recession in 2009 and 2010, where the GDP contracted −7.1% and −1.3% respectively. It is estimated by the IMF that the GDP will grow again by 1.5% in 2011 and 4.4% in 2012.

• According to Eurostat data, the Romanian PPS GDP per capita stood at 46% of the EU average in 2010. Inflation in 2010 was 6.1%. Unemployment in Romania was at 7.6% in 2010, which is very low compared to other middle-sized or large European countries such as Poland, France and Spain. General government gross debt is also comparatively low, at 34.8% of GDP. Exports have increased substantially in the past few years, with a 13% annual rise in exports in 2010. Romania's main exports are cars, software, clothing and textiles, industrial machinery, electrical and electronic equipment, metallurgic products, raw materials, military equipment, pharmaceuticals, fine chemicals, and agricultural products (fruits, vegetables, and flowers). Trade is mostly centred on the member states of the European Union, with Germany and Italy being the country's single largest trading partners. The current account balance in 2010 held a deficit of $6.842 billion.

• After a series of privatisations and reforms in the late 1990s and early 2000s, government intervention in the Romanian economy is somewhat lower than in other European economies. In 2005, the government replaced Romania's progressive tax system with a flat tax of 16% for both personal income and corporate profit, resulting in the country having the lowest fiscal burden in the European Union, a factor which has contributed to the growth of the private sector. The economy is predominantly based on services, which account for 51.2% of GDP, even though industry and agriculture also have significant contributions, making up 36% and 12.8% of GDP, respectively. Additionally, 29.6% of the Romanian population was employed in 2006 in agriculture and primary production, one of the highest rates in Europe.

• Since 2000, Romania has attracted increasing amounts of foreign investment, becoming the single largest investment destination in Southeastern and Central Europe. Foreign direct investment was valued at €8.3 billion in 2006. According to a 2006 World Bank report, Romania currently ranks 55th out of 175 economies in the ease of doing business, scoring higher than other countries in the region such as the Czech Republic. Additionally, the same study judged it to be the world's second-fastest economic reformer (after Georgia) in 2006.

• The average gross wage per month in Romania was 1855 lei in May 2009, equating to €442.48 (US$627.70) based on international exchange rates, and $1110.31 based on purchasing power parity. In 2009 the Romanian economy contracted as a result of the global economic downturn. Gross domestic product contracted 7.2% in the fourth quarter of 2009 from the same period a year earlier, and the budget deficit for 2009 reached 7.2% of GDP. Industrial output growth however reached 6.9% year-on-year in December 2009, the highest in the EU-27.

• S.C. Automobile Dacia S.A. is the largest Romanian car manufacturer. From September 1999, this company is a subsidiary of the French carmaker Renault. The company is the main exporter from Romania with a market share of 10% of total exports. In 2010, the turnover reached €3 billion, growing by €85 million compared to 2009. In the spring of 2010, was released first SUV designed by Automobile Dacia, entitled Duster.

• Romania is divided into 41 counties and the municipality of Bucharest. Each county is administered by a county council, responsible for local affairs, as well as a prefect responsible for the administration of national affairs at the county level, who is appointed by the central government but cannot be a member of any political party.

• Each county is further subdivided into cities and communes, which have own mayor and local council. There are a total of 319 cities and 2,686 communes in Romania. A total of 103 of the larger cities have municipality statuses, which gives them greater administrative power over local affairs. The municipality of Bucharest is a special case as it enjoys a status on par to that of a county. It is further divided into six sectors and has a prefect, a general mayor, and a general city council.

• The NUTS-3 (Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics) level divisions of European Union reflect Romania's administrative-territorial structure, and correspond to the 41 counties plus Bucharest. The cities and communes correspond to the NUTS-5 level divisions, but there are no current NUTS-4 level divisions. The NUTS-1 (four macroregions) and NUTS-2 (eight development regions) divisions exist but have no administrative capacity, and are instead used for co-ordinating regional development projects and statistical purposes .

• After the revolution, the National Salvation Front, led by Ion Iliescu, took partial multi-party democratic and free market measures. Several major political parties of the pre-war era were resurrected. After major political rallies, in April 1990, a sit-in protest contesting the results of the recently held parliamentary elections began in University Square, Bucharest, accusing the Front of being made up of former Communists and members of the Securitate. The protesters called the election undemocratic and asked for the exclusion from political life of former high-ranking Communist Party members, like Iliescu and the National Salvation Front. The protest rapidly grew to become what president Iliescu called the Golaniad. The peaceful demonstrations degenerated into violence, prompting the intervention of coal miners, summoned by Iliescu in June 1990, from the Jiu Valley. This episode has been documented widely by both local and foreign media, and is remembered as the June 1990 Mineriad.

• The subsequent disintegration of the Front produced several political parties including the Social Democratic Party, the Democratic Party and the Alliance for Romania. The former governed Romania from 1990 until 1996 through several coalitions and governments with Ion Iliescu as head of state. Since then there have been a few democratic changes of government: in 1996 the democratic-liberal opposition and its leader Emil Constantinescu acceded to power; in 2000 the Social Democrats returned to power, with Iliescu once again president; and in 2004 Traian Băsescu was elected president, with an electoral coalition called Justice and Truth Alliance. Băsescu was narrowly re-elected in 2009.

• Post–Cold War Romania developed closer ties with Western Europe, eventually joining NATO in 2004, and hosting the 2008 summit in Bucharest. The country applied in June 1993 for membership in the European Union and became an Associated State of the EU in 1995, an Acceding Country in 2004, and a member on 1 January 2007. Following the free travel agreement and politics of the post–Cold War period, as well as hardship of the life in the 1990s economic depression, Romania has an increasingly large diaspora, estimated at over 2 million people. The main emigration targets are Spain, Italy, Germany, Austria, the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States.

• During the 2000s, Romania enjoyed one of the highest economic growth rates in Europe and has been referred to as "the Tiger of Eastern Europe." This has been accompanied by a significant improvement in human development. The country has been successful in reducing internal poverty and establishing a functional democracy. However, Romania's development suffered a major setback during the late-2000s recession as a large gross domestic product contraction and a large budget deficit in 2009 led to Romania borrowing heavily, eventually becoming the largest debtor to the International Monetary Fund in 2010. Romania still faces issues related to infrastructure, medical services, education, and corruption.

• The Romanian Armed Forces consist of Land, Air, and Naval Forces, and are led by a Commander-in-chief who is managed by the Ministry of Defense. The president is the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces during wartime. Of the 90,000 men and women that comprise the Armed Forces, 15,000 are civilians and 75,000 are military personnel—45,800 for land, 13,250 for air, 6,800 for naval forces, and 8,800 in other fields. The total defence spending in 2007 accounted for 2.05% of total national GDP, or approximately US$2.9 billion (39th in the world), and a total of about 11 billion will be spent between 2006 and 2011 for modernization and acquisition of new equipment.

• The Land Forces have overhauled their equipment in the past few years, and today are an army with multiple NATO capabilities, participating in a NATO peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan. The Air Force currently operates modernized Soviet MiG-21 LanceR fighters which are due to be replaced by new fighters by 2013, according to present plans. However due to poor economical conditions this may change. The Air Force purchased seven new C-27J Spartan tactical airlift to replace the bulk of the old transport force. Two modernized Type 22 frigates were acquired by the Naval Forces in 2004 from the Royal Navy, and a further four modern missile corvettes have been commissioned by 2010.

• Romanian troops participated in the occupation of Iraq, reaching a peak of 730 soldiers before being slowly drawn down to 350 soldiers. Romania terminated its mission in Iraq and withdrew its last troops on July 24, 2009. Romania currently has troops deployed in Afghanistan, and is planning to nearly double its troop strength there to 1,800 by September 2010, according to an announcement made by President Traian Băsescu in Prague on April 8, 2010.

• Some 42,000-year-old human remains were discovered in the "Cave With Bones", and being Europe’s oldest remains of Homo sapiens, they may represent the first modern humans to have entered the continent.

• Among the oldest traces of human existence and activity found in Romania include those dating from the Paleolithic. These remains were found at Bugiuleşti (Vâlcea County), Ohaba-Ponor (Hunedoara County) or Valea Dârjovului (Olt County), belonging to some of the more distant human ancestors (Homo habilis and Homo sapiens). According to studies of historical anthropology, these hominids used carved stone tools, were gatherers, fishermen and hunters, lived organized in bands and were sheltered in caves and hollows.

• The Neolithic Revolution refers to the transition from carved stone tools, specific to the Paleolithic and Mesolithic, to the polished and perforated stone tools, discovery of the first metals and the growth of complexity of social organization by the conversion of bands in gens and tribes. Once with Neolithic, occurs also a diversification of occupations – the pottery, the iron metallurgy etc. -, as a specialization of human communities as distinct activities practiced: plants cultivation, respectively, animal growth. There was thus, on a scale of increasingly large, leap from a predatorily economy to a productive economy. The consequence of this very important shift in human lifestyle was his sedentary, emphasized by the appearance of the first settlements. In the late Eneolithic held the Indo-Europeanization.

• The occurrence of copper and precious metal objects, production and extensive use of bronze and then iron determined to several important economic developments of human communities: productivity growth in agriculture and increase of the cultivated areas; increased scale of craft, between the metalworking occupies now a prominent place; separation from the mass of the producers specialize in this type of activity; the intensification of merchant, and the appearance of currency which, allowing contact with the communities becoming more distant, led to the progressive spread of new techniques.

• Spiritual life of ancient age populations was also in a deliberate but relentless change, following closely the major economic and social transformations. In Romania, the first manifestations of prehistoric art are the cave drawings from Lăpuş (Maramureş County) and Cuciulat (Sălaj County). Statues, such as those from Baia (Tulcea County) for example, are representations of male and female deities, expressions of cult of fecundity predominantly in the Stone Age.