Major Cities: According to the 2002 census, Bucharest is the largest city in Romania, with 1.9 million inhabitants. Other major cities, in order of descending size, include Iasi (320,888), Cluj-Napoca (317,953), Timişoara (317,660), Constanta (310,471), Craiova (302,601), Galati (298,861), Brasov (284,596), and Ploiesti (232,527).

Independence: July 13, 1878, from the Ottoman Empire; kingdom proclaimed March 26, 1881; and the Romanian People’s Republic proclaimed April 13, 1948.

Public Holidays: Romania observes the following public holidays: New Year’s Day (January 1), Epiphany (January 6), Orthodox Easter (variable date in April or early May), Labor Day (May 1), Unification Day (December 1), National Day and Christmas (December 25).

Flag:

The Romanian national flag has three equal vertical stripes of blue, yellow,

and red.

RECENT NEWS ARTICLES

Govt urged to reveal decision on Romania/Bulgaria migrants  -  24 Oct 2006
Unison.ie,Fine Gael is calling on the government to come clean about whether it plans to restrict immigration from Romania and Bulgaria when the two countries join the ...

Liberal MP Patriciu Would Opt For Alliance With Romaniaâ€™s Major ...  -  24 Oct 2006
Mediafax,Liberal Dinu Patriciu, CEO of Romania''s second-largest oil company Rompetrol Group NV, said Monday evening during a TV show he would sponsor Romaniaâ€™s major ...

Helicopter Crashes in Romania, 3 Missing  -  24 Oct 2006
Sofia News Agency,Bulgaria: A military helicopter has crashed in a lake in Romania with the three people on board missing. The aircraft was on a training ...

Military helicopter crashes in Romania  -  24 Oct 2006
International Herald Tribune,BUCHAREST, Romania A military helicopter crashed Tuesday into a lake in southern Romania, and its three crew members were missing, the Defense Ministry said. ...

Road accident leaves 8 dead, 3 injured in western Romania  -  24 Oct 2006
International Herald Tribune,AP. BUCHAREST, Romania A bus smashed into a tractor on a road in western Romania, leaving eight people dead and three injured, police said Tuesday. ...

Orange Romania launches PrePay service  -  24 Oct 2006
Telecom Paper (subscription),Orange Romania has launched the Orange PrePay service. Between 23 October and 31 December, users can call any national network and ...

Railway Industry in Romania: Softronic Craiova modernises electric ...  -  24 Oct 2006
Railway Market Magazine,Softronic Craiova performed for the first time the modernisation of an electric locomotive with Romanian equipment. The modernisation ...

Railway Industry in Romania: Noone interested in the assets of SC ...  -  24 Oct 2006
Railway Market Magazine,The Authority for State Assets Recovery (AVAS), which is responsible for privatising state assets, will have to decrease the selling price of of SC Nicolina SA ...

Romania's TROOPER To Launch New Album Next Week - Oct. 23, 2006  -  24 Oct 2006
Blabbermouth.net,TROOPER, one of the top heavy metal band in Romania, will launch its fourth studio album, "Electric", on November 3 at Old School Club in Bucharest. ...

Rescue workers from NATO countries, Russia team up for anti-terror ...  -  24 Oct 2006
International Herald Tribune,...north of Rome, were designed to improve coordination between rescue services of the six participating countries: Italy, Russia, Hungary, Romania, Croatia and ...

UK closes door on Romanian and Bulgarian migrants  -  24 Oct 2006
Times Online,Britain has decided to close the door on a new influx of migrants from Bulgaria and Romania, imposing strict conditions on their eligibility for work permits ...

National Bucharest's coach Duna steps down for poor results  -  24 Oct 2006
People's Daily Online,Marin Duna, the coach of Romanian soccer club National Bucharest, lost job on Monday after a string of poor results. Duna became ...

European Parliament Adopts Report on Appointing Resident Employees ...  -  24 Oct 2006
Focus News,Mr Giuseppe Gargani regarding the proposal of the EC for a set of regulations for the appointing of resident employees from Bulgaria and Romania in relation to ...

Race Between An Airplane And A Motorcycle In Central Romania  -  Oct 23, 2006
Mediafax,An ultra light airplane and a motorcycle raced Sunday on the Cluj-Napoca airport, in central Romania. The ultra light plane (550 ...

Metro in Romania: EIB grants loans for Metrorex  -  Oct 23, 2006
Railway Market Magazine,EIB activity in Romania intensified with the announcement of the provision of a EUR 60m loan to Bucharest metro company Metrorex. ...

Romaniaâ€™s Former PM Faces New Count In Zambaccian File  -  Oct 23, 2006
Mediafax,Former Prime Minister Adrian Nastase Monday went to the National Anticorruption Department, or DNA, as he is under investigation on a new count disjoined from ...

US deepening military ties with Romania  -  Oct 23, 2006
United Press InternationalBUCHAREST, Romania, Oct. 23 (UPI) -- The United States is rapidly increasing its military presence in Romania. United States Air ...

Porsche Romania sees sales up to 658m euros  -  Oct 22, 2006
Ziarul Financiar,Porsche Romania, the local importer of Volkswagen, Audi, Porsche, Skoda and Seat brands, is to sell 40,000 units this year, 22% more than last year, company ...

Eurocontrol Announces Signing of MOU with Romania's Rompetrol ...  -  Oct 23, 2006
CCNMatthews (press release),...of innovative authentication and verification technologies today announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Romania's Rompetrol Group. ...

CIA rendition flights unsettle Romania  -  Oct 23, 2006
United Press InternationalBUCHAREST, Romania, Oct. 23 ... authorities. Fava singled out the potential use by the CIA of Romania's Mihail Kogalniceanu airbase. ...

No Plans to Block Workers from Bulgaria and Romania  -  Oct 23, 2006
SR International - Radio Sweden,Sweden has it has no plans to introduce restrictions on migrant workers from Bulgaria and Romania when those two countries join the EU next year. ...

This series of profiles of foreign nations is part of the Country Studies Program, formerly the Army Area Handbook Program. The profiles offer brief, summarized information on a country’s historical background, geography, society, economy, transportation and telecommunications, government and politics, and national security. In addition to being featured in the front matter of published Country Studies, they are now being prepared as stand-alone reference aides for all countries in the series, as well as for a number of additional countries of interest. The profiles offer reasonably current country information independent of the existence of a recently published Country Study and will be updated annually or more frequently as events warrant.