This
article is about the demographic
features of the population of Romania
, including
population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the
populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects
of the population.
About
89.5% of the people of Romania are ethnic
Romanians, whose language, Romanian, is an Eastern Romance language,
descended primarily from Latin with some
Slavic, German, Greek,
Hungarian and Turkish borrowings. Romanians are by
far the most numerous group of speakers of an Eastern Romance
language today. It has been said that they constitute "an island of
Latinity" in Central Europe, surrounded on all sides either by
Slavic peoples or by the
Hungarians.
The
Hungarian minority in
Romania constitutes the country's largest minority, 6.6 per
cent of the population.
Population
The population as of Nov 2007 is 22,276,506.
Different sources give varied estimates for Romania's historical
population. The National Institute for Research and Development in
Informatics (NIRDI) gives the following numbers:
Population evolution
(censuses)
See also Demographic
history of Romania
- 1859
(or 1900 ?) — 8,600,000 (Wallachia and
Moldavia without Bessarabia
, Bucovina, and Transilvania)
- 1912 — 12,923,600 (adding Transilvania, Bessarabia, and
Bucovina)
- 1930 — 18,057,028 (14,280,729 is without Bessarabia and
northern Bucovina)
- 1948 — 15,872,624
- 1956 — 17,489,450
- 1966 — 19,103,163
- 1977 — 21,559,910
- 1989 — 23,151,564
- 1992 — 22,810,035
- Statistics 1859–1992 from NIRDI
However, the following numbers, very different for the early years,
come from the Tacitus Historical Atlas
- 1844 — 3.6 million
- 1861 — 3.9 million
- 1870 — 4.3 million
- 1880 — 4.5 million
- 1890 — 5.3 million
- 1900 — 6.0 million
- 1910 — 6.9 million
- 1915 — 7.8 million
- 1921 — 15.6 million
- 1930 — 17.9 million
- 1939 — 19.9 million
- 1940 — 15.9 million
- 1941 — 13.6 million
- 1946 — 15.8 million
- Statistics 1844–1946 from Tacitus Historical Atlas
Thereafter, the numbers are essentially the same as the NIRDI
numbers. (
See also Demographic history of
Romania.)
Largest urban agglomerations
CIA World Factbook demographic statistics
The following demographic statistics are from the
CIA World Factbook, unless otherwise
indicated.
Age structure
- 0–14 years: 18% (male 2,111,320; female
2,015,347)
- 15–64 years: 68% (male 7,597,958; female
7,707,498)
- 65 years and over: 14% (male 1,237,368; female
1,741,630) (2000 est.)
As a
consequence of the pro-natalist policies of the Ceauşescu regime, Romania has a higher
proportion of young adults in its population than any other Western
country except Slovenia
.
8.55% of
the Romanian population was born in the period from 1976 to 1980,
compared with 6.82% of American
and 6.33% of
Britons.
Urban-rural ratio
- Urban — 55.20%
- Rural — 44.80%
Population growth rate
The population growth rate is -0.127% (2007 estimate).In common
with many Eastern European countries, Romania has experienced a
decline in population in recent years. The population fell by
1,129,000 or 4.95% in the decade 1992–2002.
In three counties,
Caraş-Severin, Hunedoara and Teleorman
, the population fell by more than 10% over the same
period. Only two counties,
Ilfov
and
Iaşi saw their population
increase.
Birth rate
- 10.7 births/1,000 population (2006 est.)
Death rate
- 11.77 deaths/1,000 population (2006 est.)
Net migration rate
- -0.13 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2006 est.)
Sex ratio
- at birth::1.06 male(s)/female
- under 15 years::1.05 male(s)/female
- 15–64 years::0.99 male(s)/female
- 65 years and over::0.71 male(s)/female
- total population::0.95 male(s)/female (2008 est.)
Infant mortality rate
17.3 deaths/1,000 live births (2002).
Life expectancy at birth
- Total population: 72.18 years
- male: 68.69 years
- female: 75.89 years (2008 est.)
Total fertility rate
1.38 children born/woman (2008 est.)
Nationality
The noun form is Romanian(s), and the adjectival form is
Romanian.
Ethnic groups
According to 2002 census:
Religions
Minorities
Ethnical map of Romania in 2002
Hungarians
(Székely and other Magyars; see Hungarians in Romania),
especially in Harghita
, Covasna, and Mureş counties, and the Roma are the principal minorities,
with a declining German population
(Banat Swabians in Timiş; Transylvanian Saxons in Sibiu, Braşov
and elsewhere), and smaller numbers of Czechs, Slovaks, Serbs, Chinese, Croats, and Banat Bulgarians (in Banat), Ukrainians
(especially in Maramureş and Bukovina), Greeks of
Romania (especially in Brăila
and Constanţa), Turks and Tatars (mainly in Constanţa), Armenians, Russians (Lipovans, Old Believers in Tulcea), Jews and others. Since
the
Romanian Revolution of
1989, Bucharest has again become an increasingly cosmopolitan
city, including identifiable Chinese and
Irish presences. Minority populations are
greatest in Transylvania and the
Banat, areas
in the north and west of the country, which were possessions of the
Habsburg Empire (after 1867 the
Austro-Hungarian Empire)
until
World War I. Even before the union
with Romania, ethnic Romanians comprised the overall majority in
Transylvania. However, ethnic Hungarians and Germans were the
dominant urban population until relatively recently, while
Hungarians still constitute the majority in Harghita and Covasna
counties.
Before
World War II, minorities
represented more than 28% of the total population.
During the war that
percentage was halved, largely by the loss of the border areas of
Bessarabia and northern Bukovina (to
the former Soviet
Union
, now Moldova
and Ukraine
) and
southern Dobrudja (to Bulgaria
). Two-thirds of the ethnic German population
either
left or were
deported after World War II, leaving behind a population of
60,000 ethnic Germans in Romania today. Of a total population of
over half a million Jews before World War II, about half were
killed during the
Holocaust.
Mass emigration,
mostly to Israel
and United States, has reduced the surviving Jewish community to an
estimated 12,000.
Distribution of religions in
Romania
Religion
Religious affiliation tends to follow ethnic lines, with most
ethnic Romanians identifying with the
Romanian Orthodox Church. The Greek
Catholic or
Uniate
church, reunified with the Orthodox Church by fiat in 1948, was
restored after the 1989 revolution. The 2002 census indicates that
0.9% of the population is
Greek
Catholic, as opposed to about 10% prior to 1948.
Roman Catholic, largely
ethnic Hungarians and Germans, constitute 4.7% of the population;
Calvinists, Baptists (see
Baptist Union of Romania and
Convention
of the Hungarian Baptist Churches of Romania), Pentecostals,
and Lutherans make up another 5%. There are smaller numbers of
Unitarians, Muslims, and other religions.
Culture
Romania's rich cultural traditions have been nourished by many
sources, some of which predate the Roman occupation. The
traditional folk arts, including dance, wood carving, ceramics,
weaving and embroidery of costumes and household decorations, and
fascinating folk music, still flourish in many parts of the
country.
Despite strong Austrian
, German, and especially French influence, many of
Romania's great artists, such as the painter Nicolae Grigorescu, the poet Mihai Eminescu, the composer George Enescu, and the sculptor Constantin Brâncuşi, drew
their inspiration from Romanian folk traditions.
The country's many Orthodox monasteries, as well as the
Transylvanian Catholic Church
and the
Evangelical Church, some
of which date back to the 13th century, are repositories of
artistic treasures. The famous painted monasteries of Bukovina make
an important contribution to European architecture.
Poetry and the theater play an important role in contemporary
Romanian life. Classic Romanian plays, such as those of
Ion Luca Caragiale, as well as works by
modern or avant-garde Romanian and international playwrights, find
sophisticated and enthusiastic audiences in the many theaters of
the capital and of the smaller cities.
See also
Notes
- See, for example, Fabio Bordignon, "Italian Decentralisation in
Romania", SEF 2003, Warsaw. Abstract available online.
- ICI.ro
- Tacitus.nu
- Tacitus.nu
- NationMaster - Total population > Age 25-29 >
% of the total (most recent) by country
- National Institute of
Statistics, INSSE.ro, July 1, 2007
- CIA.gov
- CIA.gov
- CIA.gov
- CIA.gov
- UNDP.ro
- Jewishvirtuallibrary.org
- Comunitati evreiesti din România, B'nai B'rith
International and Federaţia Comunitatii Evreiesti din România.
Accessed online 4 December 2006
External links
Top topics
Wikis
Quiz
Map
Search
