When you think of the United States of America you think of a country which is split into 50 separate states. Each state being unique and often times significantly different than other states. People and landscape can very vastly from neighboring states, and have night and day differences from opposite regions. For example in warmer southern states like Alabama, the majority of the people share similar Republican values, while in cooler and rainier northern states like Oregon, Democratic views are more common place.
Romania is roughly the size of the American state of Oregon and has a population of 20 million people. Similar to the USA, Romania is also geographically split. Rather than being split into separate states, Romania is split into different regions, and then further at the county, city/town, municipality (larger more modern towns with populations of 15,000+), and commune (rural subdivisions of the country) level. It has 10 regions, 41 counties, 319 cities, 103 Municipalities and 2,686 Communes.
There are many similarities between the different Romanian regions, but the similarities are far outweighed by the substantial differences. To be able to share with you what those differences are it would make sense for me to first briefly tell you what the regions, and Romania as a whole, have in common.
The predominant religious belief in Romania, held by 90% of the population, is Eastern Orthodox Christianity. The most spoken language is the country’s native Latin based language of Romanian, a romance language. The Romanian people as a whole tend to be pessimistic when it comes to their government and future of their country, while at the same time being proud of their history and having overcame many different struggles. Romanians love to criticize their country and leaders with one another, but when outsiders do it, they passionately stand up for and defend their land and its people.
Romania’s climate is defined as being temperate and continental. The country goes through all 4 seasons yearly. The average annual temperature is 52 °F, summer average of 85 °F, and winter averages of bellow 36°F. Average precipitation is 24 inches. Of course these are only the country averages, temperatures and climate vary slightly from region to region, with the biggest variation being in the mountainous areas.
The 10 regions of Romania are as follows