Communications
Highways: 2,800 km total; 2,200 km
paved, 600 km gravel, crushed stone, or
stabilized earth
Ports: Pointe des Galets
Civil air: 1 major transport aircraft
Airports: 2 total, 2 usable; 2 with permanent-surface runways; none with runways over 3,659 m; 1 with runways 2,440-3,659 m; 1 with runways 1,220-2,439 m
Telecommunications: adequate system for needs; modern open-wire line and radio relay network; principal center Saint-Denis; radiocommunication to Comoros, France, Madagascar; new radio relay route to Mauritius; 85,900 telephones; stations—3 AM, 13 FM, 1 (18 relays) TV; 1 Indian Ocean INTELSAT earth station
Defense Forces
Military manpower: males 15-49, 158,812;
82,400 fit for military service; 6,075 reach
military age (18) annually
Note: defense is the responsibility of France
Romania
See regional map V
Geography
Total area: 237,500 km²; land area:
230,340 km²
Comparative area: slightly smaller than Oregon
Land boundaries: 2,904 km total; Bulgaria 608 km, Hungary 443 km, USSR 1,307 km, Yugoslavia 546 km
Coastline: 225 km
Maritime claims:
- Continental shelf: 200 meters or to depth of exploitation
- Extended economic zone: 200 nm
- Territorial sea: 12 nm
Disputes: Transylvania question with Hungary; Bessarabia question with USSR
Climate: temperate; cold, cloudy winters with frequent snow and fog; sunny summers with frequent showers and thunderstorms
Terrain: central Transylvanian Basin is separated from the plain of Moldavia on the east by the Carpathian Mountains and separated from the Walachian Plain on the south by the Transylvanian Alps
Natural resources: crude oil (reserves being exhausted), timber, natural gas, coal, iron ore, salt
Land use: 43% arable land; 3% permanent crops; 19% meadows and pastures; 28% forest and woodland; 7% other; includes 11% irrigated
Environment: frequent earthquakes most severe in south and southwest; geologic structure and climate promote landslides, air pollution in south
Note: controls most easily traversable land route between the Balkans and western USSR
People
Population: 23,273,285 (July 1990),
growth rate 0.5% (1990)
Birth rate: 16 births/1,000 population (1990)
Death rate: 10 deaths/1,000 population (1990)
Net migration rate: -1 migrants/1,000 population (1990)
Infant mortality rate: 19 deaths/1,000 live births (1990)
Life expectancy at birth: 69 years male, 75 years female (1990)
Total fertility rate: 2.2 children born/woman (1990)
Nationality: noun—Romanian(s); adjective—Romanian
Ethnic divisions: 89.1% Romanian; 7.8% Hungarian; 1.5% German; 1.6% Ukrainian, Serb, Croat, Russian, Turk, and Gypsy
Religion: 80% Romanian Orthodox; 6% Roman Catholic; 4% Calvinist, Lutheran, Jewish, Baptist
Language: Romanian, Hungarian, German
Literacy: 98%
Labor force: 10,690,000; 34% industry, 28% agriculture, 38% other (1987)
Organized labor: until December 1989, a single trade union system organized by the General Confederation of Romanian Trade Unions (UGSR) under control of the Communist Party; since Ceauşescu's overthrow, newly-created trade and professional trade unions are joining two rival umbrella organizations—Organization of Free Trade Unions and Fratia (Brotherhood)
Government
Long-form name: none
Type: former Communist state; current multiparty provisional government has scheduled a general democratic election for 20 May 1990
Capital: Bucharest
Administrative divisions: 40 counties (judeţe, singular—judeţ) and 1 municipality* (municipiu); Alba, Arad, Argeş, Bacǎu, Bihor, Bistriţa-Nǎsǎud, Botoşani, Brǎila, Braşov, Bucureşti*, Buzǎu, Cǎlǎraşi, Caraş-Severin, Cluj, Constanţa, Covasna, Dîmbovita, Dolj, Galaţi, Gorj, Giurgiu, Harghita, Hunedoara, Ialomiţa, Iaşi, Maramureş, Mehedinţi, Mureş, Neamţ, Olt, Prahova, Sǎlaj, Satu Mare, Sibiu, Suceava, Teleorman, Timiş, Tulcea, Vaslui, Vîlcea, Vrancea
Independence: 1881 (from Turkey); republic proclaimed 30 December 1947
Constitution: 21 August 1965; new constitution being drafted
Legal system: former mixture of civil law system and Communist legal theory that increasingly reflected Romanian traditions is being revised; Communist regime had not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction; Provisional Council of National Unity will probably accept ICJ jurisdiction
261