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| Romania may be divided into three regions. In the center is the Transylvanian basin, an area of hilly, fertile farmlands. Elevations in the basin range from 300 to 600 m. Surrounding Transylvania is the second region, the Carpathian Mountains. The Eastern Carpathians, stretching southeast from the Ukrainian border toward their junction with the Southern Carpathians near Brasov, only rarely exceed 2,000 m. The eastern reaches of the Eastern Carpathians constitute a region of significant seismic activity, the origin of frequent destructive earthquakes affecting Bucuresti and other population centers. The higher and more rugged Southern Carpathians, or Transylvanian Alps, run west from Brasov to the Serbian border and reach 2,543 m at Mount Moldoveanu, the country's highest elevation. The Western Carpathians, a south-to-north line of three geologically complex massifs, extend from the Danube to the Somes River and average 645 m in elevation. Romania's third region is one of plains. They ring the entire country, except in the north, and are separated from the mountains by hilly piedmonts. The western plain, reaching to the Hungarian and Serbian borders, is an extension of Europe's mid-Danubian plain. In the south is the Walachian plain, a gently sloping area that descends southward from 300 m in the marshes, lakes, and wet meadowlands near the Danube River. In the northeast, extending from the piedmont to the Moldovan border, is the Moldavian plain, an area of undulating lowlands and tablelands. The marshy Danube delta spreads out downstream from Galati, and to the south, between the Danube and the Black Sea, is the Dobruja, a low plateau. | |
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| Romania's warm summers and cold winters define a transitional temperate-continental climate. Lowland annual average precipitation decreases west to east, from 630 mm in the western plain to 400 mm in Dobruja. Mountain precipitation may average over 1,200 mm annually. Precipitation is heaviest during the late spring and early summer and lightest during the late fall and early winter. The average temperatures are between -3° and 5°C in January and between 22°C and 24°C in July. Significantly cooler temperatures prevail at all seasons in the mountains; the warmest areas in summer are the Walachian plain and Dobruja. Climatic conditions have combined disastrously with environmentally irresponsible industrialization policies to produce severe air pollution problems in a number of southern locations, notably in Copsa Mica. | |
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| Total population is 21,657,162 (World Factbook, July 1996 est.). One-half of Romania's population live in rural areas, making it among the least urbanized European countries. The capital, Bucuresti, is the largest city. Other cities with populations of more than 200,000 are Braila, Brasov, Cluj-Napoca, Constanta, Craiova, Galati, Iasi, Oradea, Ploiesti, and Timisoara. Population is densest around Bucuresti and Ploiesti, along the Siret Valley in Moldavia, and in the Transylvanian lowlands. | |
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Clock Time: GMT+2. Summer time shift (GMT+3), from last Sunday in March,
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| Comitetul National Roman de Iluminat
c/o Prof.C.Bianchi, Institutul de Constructii
Bd. Lacul Tei 124
72305 Bucuresti
Romania
Tel: +40 1 6424200
Fax: +40 1 3127780,3126880
CIE on the Internet. | | | | | More information is available at Amadeus or the Electric Library Back to Country Info Main Page
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