Counties of Romania

Romania is divided into 41 counties, plus the special area of Bucharest. These counties help organize the country's government and statistics. Many counties are named after big rivers, and some are named after important cities inside them.

The idea of dividing Romania into areas called județe started in the late 14th century. Over time, the way Romania is divided has changed. There have been as few as 39 counties and as many as 71. The current system, with 41 counties, has been mostly the same since 1968, with only small changes since then.

According to the 2021 census, the average county in Romania has about 423,000 people. Iași County has the most people, with around 760,000, while Tulcea County has the fewest, about 193,000. The size of the counties also varies: Timiș County is the largest, covering over 8,600 square kilometers, and Ilfov County is the smallest, with just 1,583 square kilometers. Bucharest, although it is not a county, is managed at the same level and has more people than any county but takes up much less space.

History

Main article: Former administrative divisions of Romania

Romania has had different ways of dividing its land for many years. The oldest way, called județe, began in the late 1300s. Each area was led by a person called a jude, who helped with government and courts.

When modern Romania was created in 1859, the way it divided its land changed. It looked more like the system used in France. This system, using județe, stayed mostly the same except for a short time between 1950 and 1968. Today, Romania is divided into 41 counties and one city, Bucharest. These counties help with local government and share information with the rest of Europe. Each county has cities and smaller areas called communes. A person called a prefect helps run each county, and people elect a group to help make decisions every four years.

Current list

CoA	County	County seat	Name origin	Region	ISO code	Postal code	Area code	NUTS code	Pop. (1 December 2021)	Area	Density (pop./km²)	Map
	Alba	Alba Iulia	county seat	Center	AB	51	58	RO121	325,941	6,250 km2 (2,410 sq mi)	52
	Arad	Arad	county seat	West	AR	31	57	RO421	410,143	7,746 km2 (2,991 sq mi)	53
	Argeș	Pitești	Argeș River	South-Muntenia	AG	11	48	RO311	569,932	6,822 km2 (2,634 sq mi)	84
	Bacău	Bacău	county seat	North-East	BC	60	34	RO211	601,387	6,622 km2 (2,557 sq mi)	91
	Bihor	Oradea	Biharia commune	North-West	BH	41	59	RO111	551,297	7,539 km2 (2,911 sq mi)	73
	Bistrița-Năsăud	Bistrița	Bistrița River and Năsăud city	North-West	BN	42	63	RO112	295,988	5,358 km2 (2,069 sq mi)	55
	Botoșani	Botoșani	county seat	North-East	BT	71	31	RO212	392,821	4,987 km2 (1,925 sq mi)	79
	Brașov	Brașov	county seat	Center	BV	50	68	RO122	546,615	5,361 km2 (2,070 sq mi)	102
	Brăila	Brăila	county seat	South-East	BR	81	39	RO221	281,452	4,766 km2 (1,840 sq mi)	59
	Bucharest		last name Bucur	Bucharest-Ilfov	B	01–06	1x	RO321	1,716,983	240 km2 (93 sq mi)	7,154
	Buzău	Buzău	Buzău River	South-East	BZ	12	38	RO222	404,979	6,101 km2 (2,356 sq mi)	66
	Caraș-Severin	Reșița	defunct Caraș and Severin Counties	West	CS	32	55	RO422	246,588	8,532 km2 (3,294 sq mi)	29
	Călărași	Călărași	county seat	South-Muntenia	CL	91	42	RO312	283,458	5,087 km2 (1,964 sq mi)	56
	Cluj	Cluj-Napoca	county seat	North-West	CJ	40	64	RO113	679,141	6,672 km2 (2,576 sq mi)	102
	Constanța	Constanța	county seat	South-East	CT	90	41	RO223	655,997	7,104 km2 (2,743 sq mi)	92
	Covasna	Sfântu Gheorghe	Covasna River	Center	CV	52	67	RO123	200,042	3,707 km2 (1,431 sq mi)	54
	Dâmbovița	Târgoviște	Dâmbovița River	South-Muntenia	DB	13	45	RO313	479,404	4,056 km2 (1,566 sq mi)	118
	Dolj	Craiova	Jiu River	South-West Oltenia	DJ	20	51	RO411	599,442	7,425 km2 (2,867 sq mi)	81
	Galați	Galați	county seat	South-East	GL	80	36	RO224	496,892	4,465 km2 (1,724 sq mi)	111
	Giurgiu	Giurgiu	county seat	South-Muntenia	GR	08	46	RO314	262,066	3,544 km2 (1,368 sq mi)	74
	Gorj	Târgu Jiu	Jiu River	South-West Oltenia	GJ	21	53	RO412	314,684	5,572 km2 (2,151 sq mi)	56
	Harghita	Miercurea Ciuc	Harghita Mountains	Center	HR	53	66	RO124	291,950	6,637 km2 (2,563 sq mi)	44
	Hunedoara	Deva	Hunedoara city	West	HD	33	54	RO423	361,657	7,072 km2 (2,731 sq mi)	51
	Ialomița	Slobozia	Ialomița River	South-Muntenia	IL	92	43	RO315	250,816	4,455 km2 (1,720 sq mi)	56
	Iași	Iași	county seat	North-East	IS	70	32	RO213	760,774	5,477 km2 (2,115 sq mi)	139
	Ilfov	Bucharest	Ilfov River	Bucharest-Ilfov	IF	07	1x	RO322	542,686	1,564 km2 (604 sq mi)	347
	Maramureș	Baia Mare	Maramureș historical region	North-West	MM	43	62	RO114	452,475	6,303 km2 (2,434 sq mi)	72
	Mehedinți	Drobeta-Turnu Severin	Mehadia commune	South-West Oltenia	MH	22	52	RO413	234,339	4,942 km2 (1,908 sq mi)	47
	Mureș	Târgu Mureș	Mureș River	Center	MS	54	65	RO125	518,193	6,705 km2 (2,589 sq mi)	77
	Neamț	Piatra Neamț	Neamț River	North-East	NT	61	33	RO214	454,203	5,897 km2 (2,277 sq mi)	77
	Olt	Slatina	Olt River	South-West Oltenia	OT	23	49	RO414	383,280	5,503 km2 (2,125 sq mi)	70
	Prahova	Ploiești	Prahova River	South-Muntenia	PH	10	44	RO316	695,117	4,715 km2 (1,820 sq mi)	147
	Satu Mare	Satu Mare	county seat	North-West	SM	44	61	RO115	330,668	4,420 km2 (1,710 sq mi)	75
	Sălaj	Zalău	Sălaj River	North-West	SJ	45	60	RO116	212,224	3,867 km2 (1,493 sq mi)	55
	Sibiu	Sibiu	county seat	Center	SB	55	69	RO126	388,325	5,432 km2 (2,097 sq mi)	71
	Suceava	Suceava	Suceava River	North-East	SV	72	30	RO215	642,551	8,553 km2 (3,302 sq mi)	75
	Teleorman	Alexandria	Teleorman River	South-Muntenia	TR	14	47	RO317	323,544	5,788 km2 (2,235 sq mi)	56
	Timiș	Timișoara	Timiș River	West	TM	30	56	RO424	650,533	8,692 km2 (3,356 sq mi)	75
	Tulcea	Tulcea	county seat	South-East	TL	82	40	RO225	193,355	8,484 km2 (3,276 sq mi)	23
	Vaslui	Vaslui	Vaslui River	North-East	VS	73	35	RO216	374,700	5,317 km2 (2,053 sq mi)	70
	Vâlcea	Râmnicu Vâlcea	medieval county of Vîlcea	South-West Oltenia	VL	24	50	RO415	341,861	5,764 km2 (2,225 sq mi)	59
	Vrancea	Focșani	medieval county of Vrancha	South-East	VN	62	37	RO226	335,312	4,854 km2 (1,874 sq mi)	69