, alt_name = , alt_name1 = , alt_name2 = , alt_name3 = , alt_name4 = , map = , category = Unitary state , territory =

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

, upper_unit = , start_date = 1995 (Current form, 41 +

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

) , start_date1 = 1859 (33) , start_date2 = 1926 (71) , start_date3 = 1941 (73) , start_date4 = 1968 (38 +

Ilfov Ilfov () is the county that surrounds Bucharest, the capital of Romania. It used to be largely rural, but, after the fall of Communism, many of the county's villages and communes developed into high-income commuter towns, which act like subur ...

Agricultural Sector) , start_date5 = 1981 (40 +

) , legislation_begin = , legislation_begin1 = , legislation_begin2 = , legislation_begin3 = , legislation_begin4 = , legislation_end = , legislation_end1 = , legislation_end2 = , legislation_end3 = , legislation_end4 = , end_date =1950–1968 , end_date1 = , end_date2 = , end_date3 = , end_date4 = , current_number = 41 , number_date = 1995 , type = , type1 = , type2 = , type3 = , type4 = , status = , status1 = , status2 = , status3 = , status4 = , exofficio = electoral constituency , exofficio1 = , exofficio2 = , exofficio3 = , exofficio4 = , population_range = 210,177 ( CV) – 772,348 ( IS)/1,883,425 ( B) , area_range = ( B)/ ( IF) – ( TM) , government = County Council and County Council President , government1 = , government2 = , government3 = , government4 = , subdivision = Municipality/town/commune/sector , subdivision1 = , subdivision2 = , subdivision3 = , subdivision4 = A total of 41 counties ( ro, județe), along with the

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

, constitute the official

administrative divisions of Romania Romania's administration is relatively centralized and administrative subdivisions are therefore fairly simplified. According to the Constitution of Romania, its territory is organized administratively into communes, cities and counties: * At ...

. They represent the country's NUTS-3 ( Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics – Level 3) statistical subdivisions within the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

and each of them serves as the local level of

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is ...

within its borders. Most counties are named after a major

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of w ...

, while some are named after notable cities within them, such as the county seat. The earliest organization into ''județe'' of the Principalities of

Wallachia Wallachia or Walachia (; ro, Țara Românească, lit=The Romanian Land' or 'The Romanian Country, ; archaic: ', Romanian Cyrillic alphabet: ) is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Lower Danube and s ...

and

Moldavia Moldavia ( ro, Moldova, or , literally "The Country of Moldavia"; in Romanian Cyrillic alphabet, Romanian Cyrillic: or ; chu, Землѧ Молдавскаѧ; el, Ἡγεμονία τῆς Μολδαβίας) is a historical region and for ...

(where they were termed ''ținuturi'') dates back to at least the late 14th century. For most of the time since modern Romania was formed in 1859, the administrative division system has been similar to that of the

French departments In the administrative divisions of France, the department (french: département, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level ("territorial collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the communes. Ninety-s ...

. The system has since changed several times and the number of counties has varied over time, from the 71 ''județe'' that existed before

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

to only 39 after 1968. The current format has largely been in place since 1968 as only small changes have been made since then, the last of which was in 1997. According to a 2011 census data from the National Institute of Statistics, the average population of Romania's 41 counties is about 445,000, with

Iași County Iași County () is a county (județ) of Romania, in Western Moldavia, with the administrative seat at Iași. It is the most populous county in Romania, after the Municipality of Bucharest (which has the same administrative level as that of a c ...

as the most populous (772,000) and

Covasna County Covasna County (, hu, Kovászna megye, ) is a county ( județ) of Romania, in eastern Transylvania, with the county seat at Sfântu Gheorghe. Demographics In 2011, it had a population of 210,177, making it the second least populous of Romania ...

(210,000) the least. The average county's land area is , with

Timiș County Timiș () is a county ('' județ'') of western Romania on the border with Hungary and Serbia, in the historical region of Banat, with the county seat at Timișoara. It is the westernmost and the largest county in Romania in terms of land area. T ...

() the largest and

Ilfov County Ilfov () is the county that surrounds Bucharest, the capital of Romania. It used to be largely rural, but, after the fall of Communism, many of the county's villages and communes developed into high-income commuter towns, which act like suburbs ...

() the smallest. The municipality of Bucharest, which has the same administrative level as that of a county, is both more populous and much smaller than any county, with 1,883,425 people and .

History

The earliest organization into '' județe'' (for

), and ''ținuturi'' (for

), dates back at least to the late 14th century.'' Județ'' originates from the Latin ''judicium'' and ''ținut'' probably from the Latin ''tenutum''. Inspired from the organization of the late

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

, each ''județ'' was ruled by a ''jude'' (or '' pârcălab'' for a ''ținut''), a person officially appointed with administrative and judicial functions.

Transylvania Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the Ap ...

was divided into royal counties headed by ''comes'' (royal counts) with administrative and judicial functions. After modern Romania was formed in 1859 through the union of Wallachia and the rump of Moldavia, the administrative division was modernized using the French administrative system as a model, with ''județ'' as the basic administrative unit. Aside from the 1950–1968 period, this system has remained in place until today. Since 1864, for each ''județ'' there exists a ''

prefect Prefect (from the Latin ''praefectus'', substantive adjectival form of ''praeficere'': "put in front", meaning in charge) is a magisterial title of varying definition, but essentially refers to the leader of an administrative area. A prefect's ...

'', a subordinate of the

Ministry of Internal Affairs An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministry ...

and representative of the government inside the county; he is also the head of local administration for areas not delegated to local authorities. Until 1948, each ''județ'' was further divided into several '' plăși'', each administered by a ''pretor''. After the adoption of a new Constitution in 1923, the traditional local administrative systems of the newly acquired regions of

, Bukovina and Bessarabia were made uniform in 1925 with that of the

Romanian Old Kingdom The Romanian Old Kingdom ( ro, Vechiul Regat or just ''Regat''; german: Regat or ) is a colloquial term referring to the territory covered by the first independent Romanian nation state, which was composed of the Romanian Principalities: Wallachia ...

. County borders were kept largely intact, with few adjustments, and the total number of counties was raised to 71; this lasted until the beginning of

. In 1938,

King Carol II Carol II (4 April 1953) was King of Romania from 8 June 1930 until his forced abdication on 6 September 1940. The eldest son of Ferdinand I of Romania, Ferdinand I, he became crown prince upon the death of his grand-uncle, King Carol I of Roman ...

modified the law on the administration of the Romanian territory according to the fascist model. Ten ''ținuturi'' (approx. translation "lands") were created, ruled by ''Rezidenți Regali'' (Royal Residents), appointed directly by the

Monarch A monarch is a head of stateWebster's II New College DictionarMonarch Houghton Mifflin. Boston. 2001. p. 707. for life or until abdication, and therefore the head of state of a monarchy. A monarch may exercise the highest authority and power i ...

. The ''ținuturi'' represented another layer of administration between counties and the country, as the county borders were not erased. Due to the territorial changes during World War II, this style of administration did not last, and the administration at the ''județ'' level was reintroduced after the war. Between 1941 and 1944, Romania administered the territory between the

Dniester The Dniester, ; rus, Дне́стр, links=1, Dnéstr, ˈdⁿʲestr; ro, Nistru; grc, Τύρᾱς, Tyrās, ; la, Tyrās, la, Danaster, label=none, ) ( ,) is a transboundary river in Eastern Europe. It runs first through Ukraine and th ...

and Southern Bug rivers known as

Transnistria Transnistria, officially the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR), is an unrecognised breakaway state that is internationally recognised as a part of Moldova. Transnistria controls most of the narrow strip of land between the Dniester riv ...

, which consisted of 13 separate counties. After taking over the administration of the country in 1945, the

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. ...

changed the administrative model to that of the Soviet Union ( regions and raions) in 1950, but changed it back in 1968. Nevertheless, the county borders set then were quite different from those present during the

interbellum In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days), the end of the First World War to the beginning of the Second World War. The interwar period was relative ...

, as only 39 counties were formed from the 56 remaining after the war. In 1981, Giurgiu and

Călărași Călărași (), the capital of Călărași County in the Muntenia region, is situated in south-east Romania, on the banks of the Danube's Borcea branch, at about from the Bulgarian border and from Bucharest. The city is an industrial centre f ...

were split from Ialomița and the former county of Ilfov, while in 1997,

, which had been a dependency of the municipality of Bucharest for nearly two decades, was reinstated. The county borders set in 1968 are still largely in place today, but the functions of different authorities have changed due to administrative reforms in the 1990s. At present,

is divided into 41 counties and one municipality (Bucharest); these are assigned as the NUTS-3 geocode statistical subdivision scheme of Romania within the

. Each of the counties is further divided into

cities A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

(some of which have

status) and

communes An intentional community is a voluntary residential community which is designed to have a high degree of social cohesion and teamwork from the start. The members of an intentional community typically hold a common social, political, relig ...

. The ''prefect'' and his administration have executive prerogatives within the county limits, while limited legislative powers are assigned to a County Council elected every four years during local elections. The territorial districts of the Romanian judicial system overlap with county borders, thus avoiding further complication in the

separation of powers Separation of powers refers to the division of a state's government into branches, each with separate, independent powers and responsibilities, so that the powers of one branch are not in conflict with those of the other branches. The typic ...

on the government.

Current list

Notes

References

External links

Blog of the Romanian Royalty House showing various maps with the previous administrative divisions of Romania.

* {{featured list

Counties A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

Romania 1 Counties, Romania Romania geography-related lists

History

Current list

See also

Notes

References

External links