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Romania's administration is relativelycentralized and administrative subdivisions are therefore fairly simplified.
According to theConstitution of Romania, its territory is organized administratively intocommunes,cities andcounties:[1]
Below communal or town level, there are no further formal administrative subdivisions. However,communes are divided intovillages (which have no administration of their own). There are 12,957villages in Romania. The only exception isBucharest, which has sixsectors, each with an administration of its own.
The earliest organization intojudețe of the Principalities ofWallachia,[3] respectivelyținuturi ofMoldavia, dates back at least to the early 15th century. Eachjudeț, respectivelyținut, was ruled by ajude, respectivelypârcălab, an officially appointed person who had administrative and judicial functions in a manner inspired from the organization of the lateByzantine Empire.Transylvania, when it was part of the historicKingdom of Hungary (in the Middle Ages), anindependent Principality or aHabsburg domain (in the modern era until World War I) was divided intoroyal counties (Latin:comitatus), headed bycomes (royal counts) with administrative and judicial functions. The termjudeț became used inRomanian universally for all principalities since mid-19th century.
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After modern Romania was formed in 1859through the union of Wallachia and rump Moldavia, and then extended in 1918 through theunion of Transylvania, as well asBukovina andBessarabia (parts of Moldavia temporarily acquired by the Habsburgs, 1775–1918, respectively theRussian Tsars, 1812–1917), the administrative division was modernized using the French departments system as an example. With the exception of the half of theCommunist period, this system remained in place. Since 1864, for eachjudeț there exists aprefect (from the Latinpraefectus), a subordinate of theMinistry of Internal Affairs, who is the representative of the government in the county, and the head of the local administration in the areas not delegated to local authorities.[4] Until 1948, eachjudeț was further divided into a number ofplăși (singularplasă), with each administered by apretor (from the Latinpraetor), appointed by theprefect.[5]
In 1913, as a result of theSecond Balkan War, Romania acquired SouthernDobruja fromBulgaria, integrating this historical region within Romania's borders until 1940. In 1923 Romania adopted a new Constitution, and in 1927 it uniformized the traditional administrative systems of Transylvania, Bukovina and Bessarabia with that of theRomanian Old Kingdom. County borders were kept largely intact, with only a couple minor adjustments, as a total of 71 județe existed between 1927 and 1938.
In 1938,King Carol II modified theConstitution, and after that the law of administration of the Romanian territory. Ten "ținuturi" (approx. translation: "lands") were created, ruled by "Rezidenți Regali" (approx. translation "Royal Residents"), appointed directly by theMonarch. The ținuturi represented another layer of administration between counties and the country; county borders were not erased.[4][6] But, due to World War II, theSecond Vienna Award, theRibbentrop-Molotov pact and the loss of territory thatRomania suffered, this style of administration did not last, the administration at the "județ" level being reintroduced back until the establishment of communism in 1945–1947.
During World War II, the territory of Romania suffered very significant modifications. In 1940, Soviet UnionoccupiedBessarabia,Northern Bukovina, andHertsa region which after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, would become part ofRepublic of Moldova and ofUkraine. Between 1941 and 1944, these territories together withTransnistria, were administered by Romania briefly, as the country was governed by a military dictatorship allied with Nazi Germany.Transnistria consisted of formerly proper Soviet territory betweenDniester andSouthern Bug rivers. Nowadays, most of it is inUkraine, with small parts in theRepublic of Moldova (currentTransnistria). This territory was kept under Romanian military occupation, and was not annexed to Romania consisted of a further 13 counties.
After the war, theCommunist Party took over the administration of the country. In 1950, the party changed the administration model to the Russian model (regions andraions), but it reverted to the current system in 1968, although county borders were quite different from the interwar period.[7] In 1981 the former counties of Ilfov and Ialomița were re-organised into the present-day counties of Giurgiu, Călărași, Ialomița and Ilfov. The county borders introduced in 1968 are largely in place, but administrative reform during the 1990s has devolved the functions of different authorities in line with transition from a totalitarian communist system to a modern democracy. The only territorial adjustment after 1989 occurred in 1995, whenIlfov County was formed. Before that it was a dependency of the Municipality of Bucharest (Sectorul Agricol Ilfov).
Eightregional divisions (calleddevelopment regions) were created in 1998 in order to better co-ordinate regional development as Romania progressed towards accession to theEuropean Union, and consist of several counties each. These correspond toNUTS II-level divisions in European Union member states, but do not actually have an administrative status and do not have a legislative or executive council or government. As of 2009,Romania is divided into 41 counties and one municipality which are assigned asNUTS III-level divisions. Currently, Romania has no NUTS-4 units, the counties being composed directly ofcities (some of which withmunicipality status) andcommunes.
As in all modern democracies, the political power in Romania is divided into three independent branches: legislative, executive, and judicial. Theprefect and his administration have only executive prerogatives. However, the territorial districts of the Romanian judicial system overlap with county borders, thus avoiding further complication.[4] At the same time with local elections (of mayors and councilors for the cities and communes), aConsiliu județean (County Council) is elected for each county. From 2008 to 2016 a President of the County Council was also elected by direct vote. Beginning in 2016, the president is (as prior to 2008) elected by a Council. As of now, the legislative powers of county councils are quite reduced, but there are plans for more decentralization. (These plans, however, call for introduction of Regional Councils for the 8development regions of the NUTS-2 level.)
As of 2010 there have been several proposals for the administrative reorganization ofRomania made by the presidential commission tasked with the analysis of the political and constitutional regime.[8] Most of these recommendations aim for the partial reestablishment of the counties in their pre-1950 form. The counties will be grouped into several regions (9 to 15) based on common historical and economic characteristics (NUTS II level). The regions will be in their turn clustered into 4-6 macroregions (NUTS I level). Furthermore, aNUTS IV level division, calledplasă or canton will probably be added in order to meet theEU statistical and administrative requirements.[9]
Another proposal, based on 15 autonomous euro-regions (amongst them one ethnic based region with a consistent Hungarian majority made of the existingMureș,Harghita andCovasna counties) grouped into 5 statistical macroregions (NUTS I), was made by theDemocratic Union of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR).[10]
For statistical and development purposes, Romania, in the NUTS scheme, is divided into:
An exception to this structure is theMunicipality of Bucharest, which is a secondary division (rather than a tertiary division like other municipalities) and is officially divided into sixsectors, each sector having a local government and council.
The eight development regions (specific territorial entities without administrative status or legal personality) represent the framework for collecting specific statistical data, according to the European regulations issued by Eurostat for theNomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS) II territorial level. According to the Emergency Government Ordinance No 75/2001 on the functioning of the National Institute for Statistics, eight Directorates General for regional statistics have been created, and together with the 34 county directorates for statistics, aim at developing regional statistics. Officially, the eight regions areNord-Est (North-East),Sud-Est (South-East),Sud - Muntenia (South - Muntenia),Sud-Vest Oltenia (South-West Oltenia),Vest (West),Nord-Vest (North-West),Centru (Centre), andBucurești - Ilfov (Bucharest - Ilfov). The criteria used by NCS for delimiting the regions is a combination of geographical location and homogeneity based on population density. Alternative historical names are also used, but remain unofficial.
| no | type | name | area, km2 | population (2021 census)[11] | municipalities | other cities | communes | villages |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nord-Est (development region) | 36,850 | 3,226,436 | 17 | 29 | 506 | 2,414 | |
| 1 | county | Bacău County | 6,621 | 601,387 | 3 | 5 | 85 | 491 |
| 2 | county | Botoșani County | 4,986 | 392,821 | 2 | 5 | 71 | 333 |
| 3 | county | Iași County | 5,476 | 760,774 | 2 | 3 | 93 | 418 |
| 4 | county | Neamț County | 5,896 | 454,203 | 2 | 3 | 78 | 344 |
| 5 | county | Suceava County | 8,553 | 642,551 | 5 | 11 | 98 | 379 |
| 6 | county | Vaslui County | 5,318 | 374,700 | 3 | 2 | 81 | 449 |
| 2 | Sud-Est (development region) | 35,762 | 2,367,987 | 11 | 24 | 355 | 1,448 | |
| 7 | county | Brăila County | 4,766 | 281,452 | 1 | 3 | 40 | 140 |
| 8 | county | Buzău County | 6,103 | 404,979 | 2 | 3 | 82 | 475 |
| 9 | county | Constanța County | 7,071 | 655,997 | 3 | 9 | 58 | 189 |
| 10 | county | Galați County | 4,466 | 496,892 | 2 | 2 | 61 | 180 |
| 11 | county | Tulcea County | 8,499 | 193,355 | 1 | 4 | 46 | 133 |
| 12 | county | Vrancea County | 4,857 | 335,312 | 2 | 3 | 68 | 331 |
| 3 | Sud - Muntenia | 34,453 | 2,864,339 | 16 | 32 | 519 | 2,019 | |
| 13 | county | Argeș County | 6,826 | 569,932 | 3 | 4 | 95 | 576 |
| 14 | county | Călărași County | 5,088 | 283,458 | 2 | 3 | 50 | 160 |
| 15 | county | Dâmbovița County | 4,054 | 479,404 | 2 | 5 | 82 | 353 |
| 16 | county | Giurgiu County | 3,526 | 262,066 | 1 | 2 | 51 | 167 |
| 17 | county | Ialomița County | 4,453 | 250,816 | 3 | 4 | 59 | 127 |
| 18 | county | Prahova County | 4,716 | 695,119 | 2 | 12 | 90 | 405 |
| 19 | county | Teleorman County | 5,790 | 323,544 | 3 | 2 | 92 | 231 |
| 4 | Sud-Vest Oltenia | 29,212 | 1,873,607 | 11 | 29 | 408 | 2,070 | |
| 20 | county | Dolj County | 7,414 | 599,442 | 3 | 4 | 104 | 378 |
| 21 | county | Gorj County | 5,602 | 314,685 | 2 | 7 | 61 | 411 |
| 22 | county | Mehedinți County | 4,933 | 234,339 | 2 | 3 | 61 | 344 |
| 23 | county | Olt County | 5,498 | 383,280 | 2 | 6 | 104 | 377 |
| 24 | county | Vâlcea County | 5,765 | 341,861 | 2 | 9 | 78 | 560 |
| 5 | Vest (development region) | 32,034 | 1,668,921 | 12 | 30 | 281 | 1,327 | |
| 25 | county | Arad County | 7,754 | 410,143 | 1 | 9 | 68 | 270 |
| 26 | county | Caraș-Severin County | 8,520 | 246,588 | 2 | 6 | 69 | 287 |
| 27 | county | Hunedoara County | 7,063 | 361,657 | 7 | 7 | 55 | 457 |
| 28 | county | Timiș County | 8,697 | 650,533 | 2 | 8 | 89 | 313 |
| 6 | Nord-Vest (development region) | 34,159 | 2,521,793 | 15 | 28 | 403 | 1,800 | |
| 29 | county | Bihor County | 7,544 | 551,297 | 4 | 6 | 91 | 430 |
| 30 | county | Bistrița-Năsăud County | 5,355 | 295,988 | 1 | 3 | 58 | 235 |
| 31 | county | Cluj County | 6,674 | 679,141 | 5 | 1 | 75 | 420 |
| 32 | county | Maramureș County | 6,304 | 452,475 | 2 | 11 | 63 | 214 |
| 33 | county | Satu Mare County | 4,418 | 330,668 | 2 | 4 | 59 | 220 |
| 34 | county | Sălaj County | 3,864 | 212,224 | 1 | 3 | 57 | 281 |
| 7 | Centru (development region) | 34,100 | 2,271,067 | 20 | 37 | 357 | 1,788 | |
| 35 | county | Alba County | 6,242 | 325,941 | 4 | 7 | 67 | 656 |
| 36 | county | Brașov County | 5,363 | 546,615 | 4 | 6 | 48 | 149 |
| 37 | county | Covasna County | 3,710 | 200,042 | 2 | 3 | 40 | 122 |
| 38 | county | Harghita County | 6,639 | 291,950 | 4 | 5 | 58 | 235 |
| 39 | county | Mureș County | 6,714 | 518,193 | 4 | 7 | 91 | 464 |
| 40 | county | Sibiu County | 5,432 | 388,326 | 2 | 9 | 53 | 162 |
| 8 | București-Ilfov | 1,821 | 2,259,665 | 1 | 8 | 32 | 91 | |
| 41 | county | Ilfov County | 1,583 | 542,704 | - | 8 | 32 | 91 |
| 42 | municipality | Bucharest | 238 | 1,716,961 | 1 | - | - | - |
| Total | 238,391 | 19,053,815 | 103 | 217 | 2,861 | 12,957 | ||
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