Administrative divisions of Romania

Romania's way of organizing its land and people is simple. This helps the government take care of everyone.

According to the Constitution of Romania, the country is divided into smaller parts.

There are 41 counties in Romania, and one special city, Bucharest, which is the capital. These help manage big areas. Inside these areas, there are towns, cities, and communes. There are 103 municipalities, 217 other cities, and 2,861 communes. Municipalities are usually bigger towns.

Below towns and communes, there are villages. Communes are made up of villages, and there are many of them in Romania. These villages don’t have their own governments. Bucharest is split into six sectors, each with its own local government.

Historic

Main article: Historical administrative divisions of Romania

Romania has had many ways of organizing its land over time. The earliest ways began in the early 1400s. Back then, areas were led by special leaders called jude or pârcălab. They helped manage and make decisions.

When modern Romania was created in 1859 and grew in 1918, it changed how it organized areas, using ideas from France. Since 1864, each area has had a prefect. This person represents the government and leads local administration.

During World War II, Romania's borders changed a lot. Some lands were taken by the Soviet Union, and Romania also controlled other areas for a short time.

After the war, the Communist Party changed how the country was run. In 1968, it returned to the current system, though the areas looked different. The borders we have today were mostly set in 1968, with a few small changes since then.

Current status

In 1998, Romania made eight regional divisions to help with development as the country joined the European Union. These regions group several counties together but do not have their own government or laws.

As of 2009, Romania is divided into 41 counties and one special city, Bucharest. These are part of a system used by the European Union. Right now, Romania does not use the smallest level of this system. The leaders in each county work on carrying out decisions, and courts follow county borders. Each county elects a group of leaders called a County Council during local elections. The way the leader of this group is chosen changed in 2016. There are ideas to give counties more power in the future.

Future developments

Since 2010, there have been ideas to change how Romania is organized. These ideas suggest bringing back an old way of organizing the counties from before 1950. The counties might be grouped into regions, with about 9 to 15 regions based on shared history and economy (NUTS II level). These regions could then be grouped into bigger areas, called macroregions, with 4 to 6 of them (NUTS I level). There might also be a new smaller level called plasă or canton to fit rules from the EU.

Another idea, suggested by the Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania, would create 15 special areas, including one for areas with many Hungarian people, using parts of Mureș, Harghita, and Covasna counties. These areas would then be grouped into 5 bigger statistical areas (NUTS I).

Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS)

Main article: NUTS statistical regions of Romania

Romania is divided into different areas for statistics and development. At the NUTS I level, there are 4 large areas called macroregions. At the NUTS II level, there are 8 development regions. Each has about 2.8 million people. At the NUTS III level, there are 41 counties and one special area, Bucharest, the capital city.

The Municipality of Bucharest is split into six sectors. Each sector has its own local government. The eight development regions help gather data following European rules. They are Nord-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), and București - Ilfov (Bucharest - Ilfov). These regions are based on geography and how many people live there.