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

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

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 Americans and 6.33% of Britons

Urban-rural ratio

National Institute of Statistics, , July 1, 2007

• Urban — 55.20%

• Rural — 44.80%

Population growth rate

The population growth rate is -0.127% (2007 estimate). [https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ro.html]

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

Death rate

Net migration rate

Sex ratio

at birth::1.06 male(s)/femaleunder 15 years::1.05 male(s)/female15–64 years::0.99 male(s)/female65 years and over::0.71 male(s)/femaletotal 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:

• Romanian 89.5%

• Hungarian 6.6%

• Roma 2.5%

• Serbian 0.3%

• Ukrainian 0.3%

• German 0.3%

• Russian 0.2%

• Turkish 0.2%

• other 0.4%

Religions

• Romanian Orthodox — 86,7%

• Roman Catholic — 4.7%

• Protestant Churches (Calvin, Lutheran, Pentecostal, Baptist, Adventist) — 5.3%

• Greek Catholic - Uniate - 0.9%

• Islam — 0.3%

• Atheist — ~0% (9,271 people)

• No religion — 0.1%

• Other religions — 2.0%

• Refused to declare — 0.1%

Minorities

Hungarians (Székely and other Magyars), 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..

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 Catholics, 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

• Aging of Europe