Romania (Romanian: România Listeni) is a sovereign state located in Southeastern Europe. It borders the Black Sea, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Hungary, Serbia, and Moldova. It has an area of 238,397 square kilometres (92,046 sq mi) and a temperate-continental climate. With almost 20 million inhabitants, the country is the seventh most populous member state of the European Union. Its capital and largest city, Bucharest, is the sixth-largest city in the EU, with 1,883,425 inhabitants as of 2011.
The River Danube, Europe's second-longest river, rises in Germany and flows in a general southeast direction for 2,857 km (1775 mi), coursing through ten countries before emptying into Romania's Danube Delta. The Carpathian Mountains, which cross Romania from the north to the southwest, include Moldoveanu, at 2,544 m (8,346 ft).
Modern Romania was formed in 1859 through a personal union of the Danubian Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia. The new state, officially named Romania since 1866, gained independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1877. At the end of World War I, Transylvania, Bukovina and Bessarabia united with the sovereign Kingdom of Romania. During World War II, Romania was an ally of Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union, fighting side by side with the Wehrmacht until 1944, when it joined the Allied powers and faced occupation by the Red Army forces. Romania lost several territories, of which Northern Transylvania was regained after the war. Following the war, Romania became a socialist republic and member of the Warsaw Pact. After the 1989 Revolution, Romania began a transition towards democracy and a capitalist market economy.
Romania is a developing country and one of the poorest in the European Union. Following rapid economic growth in the early 2000s, Romania has an economy predominantly based on services, and is a producer and net exporter of machines and electric energy, featuring companies like Automobile Dacia and OMV Petrom. It has been a member of NATO since 2004, and part of the European Union since 2007. A strong majority of the population identify themselves as Eastern Orthodox Christians and are native speakers of Romanian, a Romance language. The cultural history of Romania is often referred to when dealing with influential artists, musicians, inventors and sportspeople. According to the 2011 census, Romania's population is 20,121,641. Like other countries in the region, its population is expected to gradually decline in the coming years as a result of sub-replacement fertility rates and negative net migration rate. In October 2011, Romanians made up 88.9% of the population. The largest ethnic minorities are the Hungarians, 6.1% of the population, and the Roma, 3.0% of the population. Hungarians constitute a majority in the counties of Harghita and Covasna. Other minorities include Ukrainians, Germans, Turks, Lipovans, Aromanians, Tatars, and Serbs. In 1930, there were 745,421 Germans in Romania, but only about 36,000 remain today. As of 2009, there were also approximately 133,000 immigrants living in Romania, primarily from Moldova and China.
The number of Romanians and individuals with ancestors born in Romania living abroad is estimated at around 12 million. After the Romanian Revolution of 1989, a significant number of Romanians emigrated to other European countries, North America or Australia. For example, in 1990, 96,919 Romanians permanently settled abroad.
Romania has no official religion, but the overwhelming majority of the population are Orthodox Christians. 86.8% - Romanian Orthodox Church; 6.0% - Protestants; 4.7% - Catholics; 2.4% - others (mostly Muslims).
In Romanian society, there are a number of problems caused by the growth of aggressive chauvinism and xenophobia. The main irritant in this sense is the Unionist ideology (unification with Moldova) and the underlying thesis about “Great Romania”. This idea, as polls show, is supported by 44% of the country's population, even high-ranking officials, for example, former President Basescu. In 2006, he officially invited the President of Moldova Voronin to unite in a single state. However, in Moldova its supporters make up 15% to 26% of the population.
The consequence of this problem is a certain level of glorification of the Romanian fascism of the times of the dictator Antonescu, which again was largely due to the public support of this process by the former president of the country.
To these problems one should also add a high degree of anti-Roma sentiments and tensions with the Hungarian minority.
