Country · Europe
Romania
Romania is a country in Southeast Europe. Its capital city is Bucharest. About 19.5 million people live there, in an area of 238 391 square kilometres.
Picture credit: Madalin Pentelie (CC0) · davidmarcu (CC0) · Mihai Burlacu (CC BY-SA 3.0) · seisdeagosto (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Lucian Duma (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is Romania?
Romania lies in Southeast Europe, on the continent of Europe.
It sits in the northern half of the world, roughly 5 121 km from the equator.
Its coastline is about 225 km long.
It shares a border with 5 countries: Bulgaria, Hungary, Moldova, Serbia and Ukraine.
How big is Romania?
Romania covers 238 391 square kilometres.
That is about 5.8 times the size of Switzerland.
Among the world's countries that makes it the 81st largest.
If everybody spread out evenly, there would be about 81.7 people on every square kilometre.
Who lives in Romania?
About 19.5 million people live in Romania.
That is the 59th biggest population in the world.
People here speak Romanian.
They pay with the Romanian leu (lei).
On average, people born here can expect to live about 70 years.
The land of Romania
The land in Romania sits on average 414 metres above sea level.
Its coast runs for about 225 km. Walking it end to end, at twenty kilometres a day, would take roughly 11 days.
It lies between the tropics and the poles, which is the single biggest reason its weather is the way it is.
What makes Romania different?
A dish the country is known for: Mămăligă, Sarmale and Mici.
Websites from here often end in .ro.
Romania and the rest of the world
Out of every thousand people alive on Earth, about 3 live in Romania.
It takes up about 0.18 % of all the land that countries stand on.
Within Europe it is the 12th largest of 45 countries, and the 9th most populated.
That is close to the world average of roughly 60 people per square kilometre.
Romania and its neighbours
Ukraine, its largest neighbour, is about 2.5 times bigger.
Ukraine has more people: 44.6 million against 19.5 million.
Nature and animals
Of the animals on this site, 5 live wild in Romania: Brown bear, Grey wolf, Chamois, Eurasian lynx and Great white pelican. The longest river is the Danube, running 2 850 km from source to mouth.
Photographs from Wikimedia Commons under free licences — every credit is on the page itself and in the picture credits.
Questions children ask
What is the capital of Romania?
The capital of Romania is Bucharest. It is the city where the country's government works from.
How many people live in Romania?
About 19.5 million people live in Romania, which makes it the 59th most populated country in the world. (Source: World Bank, 2018.)
Which countries border Romania?
Romania borders Bulgaria, Hungary, Moldova, Serbia and Ukraine — 5 neighbours in total.
How big is Romania?
Romania covers 238 391 square kilometres, making it the 81st largest country in the world. That is about 5.8 times the size of Switzerland.
Which continent is Romania in?
Romania is in Europe, in the part called Southeast Europe.
Where these numbers come from
Borders and outlines: Natural Earth. Names, capitals, areas, languages and currencies: ISO 3166 data (world-countries). Population: World Bank, 2018. Every derived figure on this page (ranks, density, distance from the equator) is calculated from those values.
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