Centru (''Centre'') is a development region in

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

. As other development regions, it does not have any administrative powers, its main function being to co-ordinate regional development projects and manage funds from the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

Localization

Centru is situated in the center of Romania, within the greater curvature of the

Carpathian Mountains The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe and Southeast Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Ural Mountains, Urals at and the Scandinav ...

, on the upper and middle courses of Mureș and Olt, being crossed by the 25th meridian east and the 46th parallel north. With an area of 34,082 km², accounting for 14.3% of the Romanian territory, Centru ranks 5th among the eight development regions. Due to its geographical position, it borders every other development region except

București - Ilfov The București – Ilfov development region () is a development regions of Romania, development region in Romania, encompassing the national capital, Bucharest, as well as the surrounding Ilfov County. As other development regions, it does not hav ...

, registering approximately equal distances from its central zone to the border crossing points.

Counties

The Centru region is made up of the following 6 counties: Alba,

Brașov Brașov (, , ; , also ''Brasau''; ; ; Transylvanian Saxon dialect, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Kruhnen'') is a city in Transylvania, Romania and the county seat (i.e. administrative centre) of Brașov County. According to the 2021 Romanian census, ...

, Covasna, Harghita, Mureș and

Sibiu Sibiu ( , , , Hungarian: ''Nagyszeben'', , Transylvanian Saxon: ''Härmeschtat'' or ''Hermestatt'') is a city in central Romania, situated in the historical region of Transylvania. Located some north-west of Bucharest, the city straddles th ...

Geography

Relief

Lacking proper plains, the relief of Centru Region includes significant parts of the three branches of the Romanian Carpathians (almost half the area of the region), hilly area of the

Transylvanian Plateau The Transylvanian Plateau (; ) is a plateau in central Romania. Description The plateau lies within and takes its name from the historical region of Transylvania, and is almost entirely surrounded by the Eastern Carpathians, Eastern, Southern ...

and depression area of contact between the hills and the mountains.

Hydrographic network

The hydrographic network is rich, consisting of upper and middle courses of Mureș and Olt and their tributaries. Natural lakes are diverse as genesis, the most notable being the glacial lakes in the Făgăraș Mountains, Sfânta Ana volcanic lake in Harghita Mountains, Red Lake, lake formed by damming the natural course of the Bicaz River and Ursu Lake. The most important artificial lakes are the dam lakes on Olt and Sebeș rivers, salt lakes in former salt mines at Ocna Sibiului and the Transylvanian Plain fishponds.

Climate

The climate of the region is temperate continental, and varies by altitude. In the intramontane depressions of the eastern region,

temperature inversion In meteorology, an inversion (or temperature inversion) is a phenomenon in which a layer of warmer air overlies cooler air. Normally, air temperature gradually decreases as altitude increases, but this relationship is reversed in an inver ...

s are frequent. In Bod,

Brașov County Brașov County () is a county (județ) of Transylvania, Romania. Its capital city is Brașov. The county incorporates within its boundaries most of the Medieval "lands" (''țări'') Burzenland and Făgăraș. Name In Hungarian language, Hungari ...

, the lowest temperature in Romania, −38.5 °C (−37.3 °F), was recorded on 25 January 1942.

Demographics

Centru has a total population of 2,251,268 :simple:Counties of Romania (2011 Census). Its population density is 73.99/km², somewhat lower than the national average of 91.3/km². The region is one of the most ethnically-diverse in Romania, with ethnic

Romanians Romanians (, ; dated Endonym and exonym, exonym ''Vlachs'') are a Romance languages, Romance-speaking ethnic group and nation native to Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. Sharing a Culture of Romania, ...

making up 65.4% of the population,

Hungarians Hungarians, also known as Magyars, are an Ethnicity, ethnic group native to Hungary (), who share a common Culture of Hungary, culture, Hungarian language, language and History of Hungary, history. They also have a notable presence in former pa ...

making up 29.9% and Romani making up 4%. Most of the Hungarian population is concentrated in the counties of Harghita and Covasna, where they make up a majority of a population.

References

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