Counties of Romania

A total of 41 counties (), along with the municipiu of Bucharest, constitute the official administrative divisions of Romania. They represent the country's NUTS-3 (Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics – Level 3) statistical subdivisions within the European Union and each of them serves as the local level of government within its borders. Most counties are named after a major river, while some are named after notable cities within them, such as the county seat.

The earliest organization into județe of the Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia (where they were termed ținuturi) dates back to at least the late 14th century. For most of the time since modern Romania was formed in 1859, the administrative division system has been similar to that of the French departments. The system has since changed several times and the number of counties has varied over time, from the 71 județe that existed before World War II to only 39 after 1968. The current format has largely been in place since 1968 as only small changes have been made since then, the last of which was in 1997.

According to the 2021 census data from the National Institute of Statistics, the average population of Romania's 41 counties is about 423,000, with Iași County as the most populous (760,000) and Tulcea County (193,000) the least. The average county's land area is , with Timiș County () the largest and Ilfov County () the smallest. Bucharest, which has the same administrative level as that of a county, is both more populous and much smaller than any county, with 1,716,983 people and .

History

The earliest organization into județe (for Wallachia), and ținuturi (for Moldavia), dates back at least to the late 14th century.Județ originates from the Latin judicium and ținut probably from the Latin tenutum. Inspired from the organization of the late Byzantine Empire, each județ was ruled by a jude (or pârcălab for a ținut), a person officially appointed with administrative and judicial functions. Transylvania was divided into royal counties headed by comes (royal counts) with administrative and judicial functions.

After modern Romania was formed in 1859 through the union of Wallachia and the rump of Moldavia, the administrative division was modernized using the French administrative system as a model, with județ as the basic administrative unit. Aside from the 1950–1968 period, this system has remained in place until today. Since 1864, for each județ there exists a prefect, a subordinate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and representative of the government inside the county; he is also the head of local administration for areas not delegated to local authorities. Until 1948, each județ was further divided into several plăși, each administered by a pretor.

After the adoption of a new Constitution in 1923, the traditional local administrative systems of the newly acquired regions of Transylvania, Bukovina and Bessarabia were made uniform in 1925 with that of the Romanian Old Kingdom. County borders were kept largely intact, with few adjustments, and the total number of counties was raised to 71; this lasted until the beginning of World War II.

In 1938, King Carol II modified the law on the administration of the Romanian territory according to the fascist model. Ten ținuturi (approx. translation "lands") were created, ruled by Rezidenți Regali (Royal Residents), appointed directly by the Monarch. The ținuturi represented another layer of administration between counties and the country, as the county borders were not erased.

Due to the territorial changes during World War II, this style of administration did not last, and the administration at the județ level was reintroduced after the war. Between 1941 and 1944, Romania administered the territory between the Dniester and Southern Bug rivers known as Transnistria, which consisted of 13 separate counties.

After taking over the administration of the country in 1945, the Communist Party changed the administrative model to that of the Soviet Union (regions and raions) in 1950, but changed it back in 1968. Nevertheless, the county borders set then were quite different from those present during the interbellum, as only 39 counties were formed from the 56 remaining after the war.

In 1981, Giurgiu and Călărași were split from Ialomița and the former county of Ilfov, while in 1997, Ilfov County, which had been a dependency of Bucharest for nearly two decades, was reinstated. The county borders set in 1968 are still largely in place today, but the functions of different authorities have changed due to administrative reforms in the 1990s.

At present, Romania is divided into 41 counties and one municipiu (Bucharest); these are assigned as the NUTS-3 geocode statistical subdivision scheme of Romania within the European Union. Each of the counties is further divided into cities (some of which have municipiu status) and communes. The prefect and his administration have executive prerogatives within the county limits, while limited legislative powers are assigned to a County Council elected every four years during local elections. The territorial districts of the Romanian judicial system overlap with county borders, thus avoiding further complication in the separation of powers on the government.

Current list

CoA County County seat Name originMost of the names of the present counties originate from one of the larger rivers that flow through the county. In a number of cases, the name of the county seat or another large city in the county is the same as that river. Region ISO codeThese are the ISO 3166-2:RO codes which coincide with the license plate ones; they are also used as usual abbreviations, such as in mailing addresses. Postal codeThe postal code format is of the type xxyzw, with xx being the numbers associated with the county; the digits y, z, and w indicate the city, the street, part of the street, or even the building of the address. Area codeLandline phone numbers are of the type +40-abb-xxx-xxx, where 40 is the country code, bb is the area code, and a is a digit indicating the operator: 2 for the former national operator, Romtelecom, and 3 for the other ground telephone networks. Mobile phone numbers, however, only start with the digit 7 (for a) and do not follow county borders. NUTS codeThe development region code follows the format ROxyz, where x is the macroregion number, y represents the development region and is either 1 or 2, and z is the county number within the region. Pop. (1 December 2021) Area Density(pop./km²) Map Alba Alba Iulia county seat Center AB 51 58RO121325,941 52 Arad Arad county seat West AR 31 57RO421410,143 53 Argeș Pitești Argeș River South-Muntenia AG 11 48RO311569,932 84 Bacău Bacău county seat North-East BC 60 34RO211601,387 91 Bihor Oradea Biharia commune North-West BH 41 59 RO111551,297 73 Bistrița-Năsăud Bistrița Bistrița River and Năsăud city North-West BN 42 63 RO112295,988 55 Botoșani Botoșani county seat North-East BT 71 31RO212392,821 79 Brașov Brașov county seat Center BV 50 68RO122 546,615 102 Brăila Brăila county seat South-East BR 81 39RO221281,452 59 BucharestBucharest is not a county, but a municipiu that has an identical administrative status to all the other 41 counties. last name Bucur Bucharest-Ilfov B 01–06Due to Bucharest's significantly larger population, it has a different postal code for each of its six sectors. 1xBucharest and Ilfov county have the same code. Due to their large population, phone numbers have only the suffix "1" (unlike two-digit suffixes for counties) followed by seven digits (only six digits for anywhere else).RO3211,716,983 7,154 Buzău Buzău Buzău River South-East BZ 12 38RO222404,979 66 Caraș-Severin Reșița defunct Caraș and Severin Counties West CS 32 55RO422246,588 29 Călărași Călărași county seat South-Muntenia CL 91 42RO312283,458 56 Cluj Cluj-Napoca county seat North-West CJ 40 64RO113679,141 102 Constanța Constanța county seat South-East CT 90 41RO223655,997 92 Covasna Sfântu Gheorghe Covasna River Center CV 52 67RO123200,042 54 Dâmbovița Târgoviște Dâmbovița River South-Muntenia DB 13 45RO313479,404 118 Dolj Craiova Jiu RiverDolj is a shortened form of Dolu (Slavic for "valley") Jiu, in reference to the county's location in the lower part of Jiu river. South-West Oltenia DJ 20 51RO411599,442 81 Galați Galați county seat South-East GL 80 36RO224496,892 111 Giurgiu Giurgiu county seat South-Muntenia GR 08 46RO314262,066 74 Gorj Târgu Jiu Jiu RiverGorj is a shortened form of Gora (Slavic for "mountain") Jiu, in reference to the county's location in the upper part of Jiu river. South-West Oltenia GJ 21 53RO412314,684 56 Harghita Miercurea Ciuc Harghita Mountains Center HR 53 66RO124291,950 44 Hunedoara Deva Hunedoara city West HD 33 54RO423361,657 51 Ialomița Slobozia Ialomița River South-Muntenia IL 92 43RO315250,816 56 Iași Iași county seat North-East IS 70 32RO213760,774 139 Ilfov Bucharest Ilfov River Bucharest-Ilfov IF 07 1xRO322542,686 347 Maramureș Baia Mare Maramureș historical region North-West MM 43 62RO114452,475 72 Mehedinți Drobeta-Turnu Severin Mehadia commune South-West Oltenia MH 22 52RO413234,339 47 Mureș Târgu Mureș Mureș River Center MS 54 65RO125518,193 77 Neamț Piatra Neamț Neamț River North-East NT 61 33RO214454,203 77 Olt Slatina Olt River South-West Oltenia OT 23 49RO414383,280 70 Prahova Ploiești Prahova River South-Muntenia PH 10 44RO316695,117 147 Satu Mare Satu Mare county seat North-West SM 44 61RO115330,668 75 Sălaj Zalău Sălaj River North-West SJ 45 60RO116212,224 55 Sibiu Sibiu county seat Center SB 55 69RO126388,325 71 Suceava Suceava Suceava River North-East SV 72 30RO215642,551 75 Teleorman Alexandria Teleorman River South-Muntenia TR 14 47RO317323,544 56 Timiș Timișoara Timiș River West TM 30 56RO424650,533 75 Tulcea Tulcea county seat South-East TL 82 40RO225193,355 23 Vaslui Vaslui Vaslui River North-East VS 73 35RO216374,700 70 Vâlcea Râmnicu Vâlcea medieval county of VîlceaVâlcea is the Romanian word for a narrow valley. South-West Oltenia VL 24 50RO415341,861 59 Vrancea Focșani medieval county of VranchaVran is a substratum word believed to mean "forest" or "mountain". South-East VN 62 37RO226335,312 69

Counties of Romania

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