PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT AND POPULATION
Romania, located in southeastern Europe and usually referred to as one
of the Balkan states, shares land borders with Bulgaria, Yugoslavia,
Hungary, and the Soviet Union and has a shoreline on the Black Sea (see
fig. 1). The interior of the country is a broad plateau almost
surrounded by mountains, which, in turn, are surrounded, except in the
north, by plains. The mountains are not unduly rugged, and their gentle
slopes plus the rolling interior plateau and the arc of lowlands on the
country's periphery provide an unusually large percentage of arable
land.
Romanian historians have remarked that their country's history might
have been different had its mountains been located on its borders rather
than in the interior. Romania's mountains provided a refuge for
indigenous populations but did not constitute barriers against invaders
who sought to dominate the area or use it as a crossroad for deeper
invasions of the Balkan region (see ch. 2).
The prevailing weather is eastern European continental, with hot, clear
summers and cold winters. Rainfall is adequate in all sections, and in
normal seasons the greater share falls during the summer months when it
is of most benefit to vegetation and crops. Soils on the average are
fertile. Forests occupy about 27 percent of the land surface.
All of the major streams drain eventually into the Danube River and to
the Black Sea. The entire length of the Danube in or bordering the
country is navigable. There are few canals, and the Prut River is the
only other waterway that is navigable for any considerable distance.
Several of the rivers originating in the Carpathians have a good
potential for hydroelectric power but, because oil and natural gas are
abundant, their development has not had high priority.
In 1971 railroads carried by far the greatest volume of long-distance
freight and passenger traffic, but highway transport was supplanting
them in short-haul traffic of both types. Commercial aviation had
multiplied its capacities since 1950 but still carried only a minute
percentage of total traffic. Pipelines were the principal carriers of
liquid petroleum and natural gas. The merchant marine had developed
relatively rapidly after 1960 and, although still small, consisted
almost entirely of modern ships and equipment.
The population, estimated at more than 20.6 million in 1971, was growing
at the second highest rate in Europe. The country's officials, however,
did not expect the 1971 rate to be maintained throughout the remainder
of the century.
The standard of living was among the lowest in Europe. Living conditions
improved markedly after 1950, but emphasis on heavy capital investment
held down production of consumer goods. The land has been more than
self-sufficient in the agricultural sector, but food products have been
exported in quantities that have made some of them scarce locally.
NATURAL FEATURES AND RESOURCES
Topographical and Regional Description
All of the mountains and uplands of the country are part of the
Carpathian system. The Carpathian Mountains originate in Czechoslovakia,
enter Romania in the north from the Soviet Union, and proceed to curl
around the country in a semicircle (see fig. 3). The ranges in the east
are referred to as the Moldavian Carpathians; the slightly higher
southern ranges are called the Transylvanian Alps; and the more
scattered but generally lower ranges in the west are known as the Bihor
Massif. A few peaks in the Moldavian Carpathians rise to nearly 7,500
feet, and several in the Transylvanian Alps reach 8,000 feet, but only a
few points in the Bihor Massif approach 6,000 feet.
Lowland areas are generally on the periphery of the country--east,
south, and west of the mountains. A plateau, higher than the other
lowlands but having elevations averaging only about 1,200 feet, occupies
an area enclosed by the Carpathian ranges.
Moldavia, in the northeast, constitutes about one-fourth of the
country's area. It contains the easternmost ranges of the Carpathians
and, between the Siretul and Prut rivers, an area of lower hills and
plains. The Moldavian Carpathians have maximum elevations of about 7,500
feet and are the most extensively forested part of the country. The
western portion of the mountains contains a range of volcanic
origin--the longest of its type in Europe--that is famous for its some
2,000 mineral water springs. Small sections of the hilly country to the
northeast also have forests, but most of the lower lands are rolling
country, which becomes increasingly flatter in the south. Almost all of
the nonforested portions are cultivated.
[Illustration: _Figure 3. Topography of Romania._]
Walachia, in the south, contains the southern part of the Transylvanian
Alps--called the Southern Carpathians by Romanian geographers--and the
lowlands that extend between them and the Danube River. West to east it
extends from the Iron Gate to Dobruja, which is east of the Danube in
the area where the river flows northward for about 100 miles before it
again turns to the east for its final passage to the sea. Walachia is
divided by the Olt River into Oltenia (Lesser Walachia) in the west and
Muntenia (Greater Walachia), of which Bucharest is the approximate
center, in the east. Nearly all of the Walachian lowlands, except for
the marshes along the Danube River, and the seriously eroded foothills
of the mountains are cultivated. Grain, sugar beets, and potatoes are
grown in all parts of the flatland; the area around Bucharest produces
much of the country's garden vegetables; and southern exposures along
the mountains are ideally suited for orchards and vineyards.
The Transylvanian Alps have the highest peaks and the steepest slopes in
the country; the highest point, with an elevation of about 8,340 feet
above sea level, is 100 miles northwest of Bucharest. Among the alpine
features of the range are glacial lakes, upland meadows and pastures,
and bare rock along the higher ridges. Portions of the mountains are
predominantly limestone with characteristic phenomena, such as caves,
waterfalls, and underground streams.
Transylvania, the northwestern one-third of the country, includes the
historic Transylvanian province and the portions of Maramures, Crisana,
and Banat that became part of Romania after World War I. The last three
borderland areas are occasionally identified individually.
Nearly all of the lowlands in the west and northwest and the plateau in
the central part of the province are cultivated. The western mountain
regions are not as rugged as those to the south and east, and average
elevations run considerably lower. Many of the intermediate slopes are
put to use as pasture or meadowland but, because the climate is colder,
there are fewer orchards and vineyards in Transylvania than on the
southern sides of the ranges in Walachia. Forests usually have more of
the broadleaf deciduous tree varieties than is typical of the higher
mountains, but much of the original forest cover has been removed from
the gentler Transylvanian slopes.
Dobruja provides Romania's access to the Black Sea. The Danube River
forms the region's western border, and its northern side is determined
by the northernmost of the three main channels in the Danube delta. The
line in the south at which the region has been divided between Romania
and Bulgaria is artificial and has been changed several times.
For nearly 500 years preceding 1878, Dobruja was under Turkish rule.
When the Turks were forced to relinquish their control, the largest
elements of its population were Romanian and Bulgarian, and it was
divided between the two countries. Romania received the larger, but more
sparsely populated, northern portion. Between the two world wars Romania
held the entire area, but in 1940 Bulgaria regained the southern
portion. The 1940 boundaries were reconfirmed after World War II, and
since then the Romanian portion has had an area of approximately 6,000
square miles; Bulgaria's has been approximately one-half as large.
Dobruja contains most of the Danube River delta marshland, much of which
is not easily exploited for agricultural purposes, although some of the
reeds and natural vegetation have limited commercial value. The delta is
a natural wildlife preserve, particularly for waterfowl and is large
enough so that many species can be protected.
Fishing contributes to the local economy, and 90 percent of the
country's catch is taken from the lower Danube and its delta, from
Dobruja's lakes, or off the coast. Willows flourish in parts of the
delta, and there are a few deciduous forests in the north-central
section. To the west and south, the elevations are higher. The land
drains satisfactorily and, although the rainfall average is the lowest
in the country, it is adequate for dependable grain crops and vineyards.
Along the southern one-half of the coastline there are pleasant beaches.
In summer the dry sunny weather and low humidity make them attractive
tourist resorts.
Bukovina, more isolated than other parts of the country, has a
part-Romanian and part-Ukrainian population. Romanian Bukovina is small,
totaling only about 3,400 square miles. It was part of Moldavia from the
fourteenth century until annexed by Austria in 1775. Romania acquired it
from Austria-Hungary in 1918, but after World War II the Soviet Union
annexed the 2,100-square-mile northern portion with its largely
Ukrainian population.
The approximately 1,300 square miles of the former province remaining in
Romania is picturesque and mountainous. Less than one-third is arable,
but domestic animals are kept on hillside pastures and meadows. Steeper
slopes are forested.
Drainage
All of Romania's rivers and streams drain to the Black Sea. Except for
the minor streams that rise on the eastern slopes of the hills near the
sea and flow directly into it, all join the Danube River. Those flowing
southward and southeastward from the Transylvanian Alps drain to the
Danube directly. Those flowing northward and eastward from Moldavia and
Bukovina reach the Danube by way of the Prut River. Most of the
Transylvanian streams draining to the north and west flow to the Tisza
River, which joins the Danube in Yugoslavia, north of Belgrade.
Romanian tourist literature states that the country has 2,500 lakes, but
most are small, and lakes occupy only about 1 percent of the surface
area. The largest lakes are along the Danube River and the Black Sea
coast. Some of those along the coast are open to the sea and contain
salt sea water. These and a few of the fresh water lakes are
commercially important for their fish. The many smaller ones scattered
throughout the mountains are usually glacial in origin and add much to
the beauty of the resort areas.
The Danube drains a basin of 315,000 square miles that extends eastward
from the Black Forest in the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany)
and includes a portion of the southwestern Soviet Union. It is about
1,775 miles long, including the 900 miles in or adjacent to Romania, and
is fed by more than 300 tributaries, from which it collects an average
of about 285,000 cubic feet per minute to discharge into the Black Sea.
Much of the Danube delta and a band of up to twenty miles wide along
most of the length of the river from the delta to the so-called Iron
Gate--where it has cut a deep gorge through the mountains along the
Yugoslav border--is marshland.
For descriptive purposes the river is customarily divided into three
sections; most of the portion in Romania--from the Iron Gate to the
Black Sea--is its lower course. The northern bank of this course, on the
Romanian side, is low, flat marshland and, as it approaches its delta,
it divides into a number of channels. It also forms several lakes, some
of them quite large. At its delta it divides into three major and
several minor branches. The delta has an area of about 1,000 square
miles and grows steadily as the river deposits some 2 billion cubic feet
of sediment into the sea annually.
Climate
The climate is continental and is characterized by hot summers and cold
winters. Typical weather and precipitation result from the high pressure
systems that predominate over European Soviet Union and north-central
Asia. Southern Europe's Mediterranean weather and western European
maritime systems occasionally extend into the area but not frequently,
and they prevail only for short periods. Winters are long, and the
months from November through March tend to be cold and cloudy, with
frequent fog and snow. Although summers may be hot, they are sunny, and
the humidity is usually at comfortable levels.
Precipitation ranges from fifteen to fifty inches; the countrywide
average is about twenty-eight inches. Dobruja, along the lower Danube
River and adjacent to the Black Sea coast, averages the least, followed
by the lowlands of Moldavia and southernmost Walachia, which usually
receive less than twenty inches. The remaining lowlands of the country
and the Transylvanian plateau average between about twenty and
thirty-two inches. Bucharest receives about twenty-three inches. In all
of the agricultural regions the heaviest precipitation, most of it from
thunderstorms and showers, occurs during the summer growing season when
it is of maximum benefit to crops and vegetation.
Scattered areas in the Transylvanian Alps and in the other mountains of
the northern and western parts of the country receive more than fifty
inches annually. Foothills on all exposures also get more than the
country average. Western exposures benefit from the generally eastward
movement of weather systems; southern and eastern slopes benefit from
the clockwise circulation around the high-pressure systems that are
characteristic of the continental climate.
January is the coldest month; July, the warmest. Bucharest, located
inland on the southern lowland, is one of the warmest points in summer
and has one of the widest variations between average temperatures of the
extreme hot and cold months. Its average January temperature is about
27° F, and in July it is 73° F. Summer averages are about the same at
other places in the eastern lowlands and along the Black Sea, but the
moderating effect of winds off the sea makes for slightly warmer winters
in those areas. Hilly and mountainous sections of the country are cooler
but have less variation between winter and summer extremes.
Nowhere in the country is the climate the deciding factor on the
distribution of population. There are no points where summer
temperatures are oppressively high or winter temperatures are
intolerably low. Rainfall is adequate in all regions and, in the lower
Danube River area where it might be considered the most nearly marginal,
marshes and poorly drained terrain are more of a problem than is lack of
rainfall.
Soils
The most fertile soils of the country occur generally on the plains of
Moldavia and parts of Walachia. This is the black earth known as
chernozem, which is rich in humus. Most of the black earth and some of
the brown forest soils also have a high loess content, which tends to
make them light, fine, and workable. These rich varieties also occur on
the lowlands of the west and northwest and on the Transylvanian plateau.
Lighter brown soils are more prevalent in rolling lands and in foothills
throughout the country.
Soils become progressively poorer at higher elevations and as the slopes
become steeper. Layered soils, which take over as elevations increase,
vary widely and tend to become thinner and poorer at higher elevations
until bare rock is exposed. In some lower areas, where there are areas
of brown forest soils, erosion is a serious problem. Although the sandy
and alluvial soils along the Danube River are of excellent quality and
are valuable where drainage is good, those in a fairly wide belt along
the river are too moist for cultivation of most crops.
Vegetation
Before the land was cleared, lowland Romania was a wooded steppe area,
but the natural vegetation has largely been removed and replaced by
cultivated crops. Forests still predominate on the highlands. Of the
country's total area, about 63 percent is agricultural land; 27 percent
is forest; and 10 percent is bare mountain or water surface or is used
in some way that makes it unsuitable for forest or cultivation. Of the
agricultural land, 65 percent is under cultivation, 30 percent is
pasture and meadow, and 5 percent is orchard and vineyard (see ch. 15).
Forests remain on most of the slopes that are too steep for easy
cultivation. Most of the larger forests are in Transylvania and western
Moldavia in a roughly doughnut-shaped area that surrounds the
Transylvanian plateau. Broadleaf deciduous and mixed forests occur at
lower elevations; forests at higher levels are coniferous with
needle-leaf evergreens. There are alpine sheep pastures at 5,000- and
6,000-foot elevations, and tundra vegetation occurs at some of the
highest locations.
Orchards are found in all sections of the country. Peaches can be grown
in Walachia, but only those fruits that can tolerate colder winters are
raised in Moldavia and Transylvania. Vineyards, especially on the
Walachian mountain slopes, have become more important since World War
II, and wine, although it is not of a quality that receives
international acclaim, is exported.
Natural Resources
The most important natural resources are the expanses of rich arable
land, the rivers, and the forests. The land is agriculturally
self-sufficient and, when fertilizers become more readily available,
crop yields will be appreciably larger. The rivers have a high potential
for the generation of hydroelectric power. Most of them rise in the
mountains and fall to the plains quite rapidly and could be profitably
harnessed. Rainfall distribution is good throughout the year and would
provide more than an ordinarily dependable source of waterpower. The
potential was only beginning to be tapped in 1971 (see ch. 15).
Large fields of oil and natural gas are the most important sub-surface
assets. Both are of the best quality in Europe, with the possible
exception of those near Baku in the Soviet Union. Liquid petroleum is
pumped from large fields in the Ploiesti area and also from an area in
central Moldavia. Natural gas is available under a large part of the
Transylvanian plateau.
A few minerals, such as lead, zinc, sulfur, and salt, are available in
quantities needed domestically, but iron and coal are not plentiful.
Deposits of lignite, gold, and several other minerals occur in
concentrations having sufficient value to be mined.
BOUNDARIES AND POLITICAL SUBDIVISIONS
Boundaries
When it gained full independence in 1878, Romania contained the historic
provinces of Moldavia and Walachia, some of Bessarabia, and a portion of
Dobruja. Substantial numbers of Romanians remained outside the original
state's boundaries in Transylvania and in the Russian portion of
Bessarabia. The first boundaries remained little changed until after
World War I, although the strip of Dobruja was enlarged somewhat in
1913, after the Second Balkan War (see ch. 2).
In the 1918 settlement after World War I about 38,500 square miles were
ceded to Romania from the dismantled Austro-Hungarian Empire. In
addition to historic Transylvania, with its area of about 21,300 square
miles, a strip along its western side, with a substantially Magyar
population, and Bukovina, part of which is now the most north-central
section of the country, were included. Also in the aftermath of World
War I and the Russian revolution, Romania acquired Bessarabia from the
new Bolshevik regime and enlarged its holdings in Dobruja at Bulgaria's
expense.
During the brief period of accord between the Soviet Union and Nazi
Germany immediately before World War II, portions of Romania were sliced
away and divided among Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Soviet Union. The
post-World War II settlement, arrived at in 1947, again transferred
Transylvania from Hungary to Romania, and Dobruja--with a somewhat
modified southern border--was transferred from Bulgaria. The Soviet
Union retained all of Bessarabia and the northern portion of Bukovina.
In 1971 none of Romania's borders were disputed, and all of them were
satisfactorily demarcated.
The total circumference of the country is about 1,975 miles. The
northern and eastern border with the Soviet Union extends for about 830
miles; the southern border with Bulgaria, for 375 miles; the
southwestern border with Yugoslavia, for 345 miles; and the
northwestern border with Hungary, for 275 miles. The Black Sea coast is
about 150 miles long. The eastern boundary generally follows the Prut
River, and most of the southern boundary is formed by the Danube; in the
west and north the border follows no distinctive terrain features, often
having been drawn according to ethnic, rather than geographic,
considerations.
Political Subdivisions
Until 1968 the communist regime had divided the country into seventeen
regions--including one consisting of the Bucharest metropolitan area
only--and 152 districts. In an extensive reorganization of local
governments at that time, the regions were done away with and replaced
by the prewar system of counties (_judete_). In 1971 there were
thirty-nine counties, plus Bucharest and its suburban areas, which were
still administered separately. Bucharest was one of forty-six
municipalities, but it was the only one not subordinate to the district
in which it was located. Each county is named for the town that is its
administrative center. The newer organization has served to increase
public participation in local government but has also increased the
authority of the central government.
Bucharest, with a population of nearly 1.5 million in 1969, was about
six times larger than Brasov, the next largest city. The Bucharest
district was smallest in area and greatest in population. Other
districts had roughly similar areas and populations. They averaged about
2,350 square miles in area and, although their populations varied
between fewer than 200,000 and about 750,000, two-thirds of them had
between 350,000 and 650,000 persons.
The 1968 reorganization also made extensive changes in the lower portion
of the local administrative structure, reducing the number of communes
by about 40 percent and villages by nearly 15 percent. Typical counties
had about fifty communes of about 4,000 to 5,000 persons each. The
smaller local units were created, dissolved, or combined as population
and local requirements changed but, as of January 1970, there were 236
towns, 2,706 communes, and 13,149 villages. Of the towns, the
forty-seven most important were classified as municipalities, and the
communes included 145 that were suburban areas of the larger towns (see
ch. 8).
POPULATION
The area approximating that defined by the 1971 boundaries of the
country had a population estimated at about 8.2 million in 1860. Thirty
years later it had increased to about 10 million. Growth began to
accelerate slightly after 1890, with periods of greatest increases
between 1930 and 1941 and between 1948 and 1956, until it reached an
estimated 20.6 million in 1971.
The 1971 estimate was derived from the 1966 census and projected from
vital statistics compiled locally through 1970. On this basis the
estimated annual rate of growth was 1.3 percent, exceeded in Europe only
by that of Albania. Density of the population was 224 persons per square
mile. Projected at the 1971 growth rate, the population in 1985 would be
23.3 million, and it would take fifty-four years for the population of
the country to double.
The 1971 growth rate, however, may not be maintained. Legislation
enacted in 1966 stringently restricted abortions and discouraged birth
control practices, resulting in an increased birth rate for the next few
years, but by 1971 there were indications that the rate was again
declining. Unofficially, it is expected that the population will reach
only 25.75 million by the year 2000, or about 27 percent more than in
1970. The projection is based on a growth rate of less than that of the
1970-71 period. It is expected to average about 1.1 percent for the
1971-75 five-year period and to decrease thereafter, resulting in an
average of between 0.7 and 0.8 percent over the entire period. Moreover,
the increase is expected to be far greater in the over-sixty age group
and to provide only about 14 percent more workers in the productive age
brackets between fifteen and fifty-nine.
In 1970 the birth rate, at 23.3 births per 1,000 of the population, was
also exceeded only by Albania's in all of Europe. The rate of infant
mortality, at 54.9 deaths during the first year of life for each 1,000
live births, was slightly lower than those of Yugoslavia and Portugal
and was exceeded significantly only by that of Albania. The death rate,
at 10.1 per 1,000 was very close to the overall European rate of ten per
1,000.
According to the 1971 official estimate there were 10.1 million males
and 10.4 million females, or 102.8 females for every 100 males in the
population. Males outnumber females slightly in the childhood years and
are the majority sex in each five-year segment of the population to
about the age of thirty. Females outnumber males in the thirty to
thirty-four age group, after which there is near numerical equality
between ages thirty-five and forty-four. Females attain a clear majority
beyond age forty-five. Female life expectancy, at 70.5 years, is
approximately four years greater than that of males.
The population group with ages from fifty to fifty-four had both a low
overall figure and an abnormally low percentage of males (see table 1).
The low total reflected a low birth rate during World War I years; the
abnormal sex distribution reflected World War II combat losses. The low
total in the twenty-five to twenty-nine group resulted from the low
birth rate during World War II, and the low figure for the five-to-nine
age group reflected the fewer number of parents in the group twenty
years its senior and their disinclination to have children because of
low incomes and inadequate housing.
The size of the five-to-nine age group was of concern to the country's
economists because it will provide a smaller than desirable augmentation
to the labor force at the end of the 1970 decade and for the early
1980s. The seemingly much larger group that was under five years of age
in 1971, on the other hand, would appear on the surface to more than
compensate for the smaller one preceding it. The country's economists,
however, did not believe that an alleviation of the chronic shortage of
people in the most productive working ages would occur during the
twentieth century.
Aside from natural growth and additions and subtractions of territories
and their occupants, the country's population has been comparatively
stable. It has been affected to a lesser degree than others in eastern
Europe by migrations during and after World War II, probably losing
between 300,000 and 400,000 persons in various resettlement and
population exchange movements. The largest emigration involved Jews to
Israel. Israeli data show an average of about 30,000 immigrants from
Romania during the three immediate postwar years, and Jewish people
accounted for a major share of all emigration between then and the late
1960s.
_Table 1. Romania, Population Structure, by Age and Sex, 1971 Estimate_
(in thousands)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Number of
Percentage Females
Age Group Total of Total Male Female for Each
Population 100 Males
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Under 5 2,255 11.0 1,149 1,106 96.4
5-9 1,392 6.7 713 679 95.3
10-14 1,743 8.5 892 851 95.3
15-19 1,787 8.7 911 876 95.6
20-24 1,588 7.7 806 782 97.2
25-29 1,316 6.5 666 650 97.6
30-34 1,533 7.4 757 776 102.4
35-39 1,542 7.5 773 769 99.2
40-44 1,502 7.3 752 750 99.6
45-49 1,303 6.3 623 680 109.2
50-54 806 3.9 363 443 121.7
55-59 1,020 5.0 468 552 117.8
60-64 950 4.6 452 498 110.0
65-69 737 3.6 351 386 109.6
70-74 540 2.6 235 305 129.8
75 and over 551 2.7 227 324 142.1
----- ---- ---- ---- -----
Total
population 20,565 100.0 10,138 10,427 102.8
------------------------------------------------------------------
Source: Adapted from Godfrey Baldwin (ed.), _International Population
Reports_ (U.S. Department of Commerce, Series P-91, No. 18), Washington,
1969, pp. 32-33.
Within the country the greatest shift of people has been from rural to
urban areas. The rural population grew by about 0.5 million, from 11.9
million to 12.4 million, between 1945 and 1971. During the same period
urban population increased by about 3.5 million, from 4.7 million to
about 8.24 million, and has become about 40 percent of the total.
Officials anticipate that the rural population will stabilize and that
most future increases will be to the towns and cities.
Of the 60 percent of the people who still live in small villages and
settlements, most depend upon agriculture for their livelihood. Isolated
farms and dwellings prevail in the more remote hills and mountains, and
life in those areas has been little affected by industrialization of the
country or by the collectivization of agricultural land, which has been
accomplished in most of the better farming areas.
Older villages most typically have individual family houses, with farm
buildings adjacent and with considerable separation between houses. In
areas that have been collectivized there has been some effort to remove
buildings from productive land and to nucleate the villages.
Population is most dense in the central portion of Walachia, centering
on, and west of, Bucharest and Ploiesti and along the Siretul River in
Moldavia. Southwestern Walachia and central and northwestern
Transylvania are also more densely settled than the average for the
country. The area around Dobruja, lands of high elevation, and
marshlands along the lower Danube River are the most sparsely settled
areas.
LIVING CONDITIONS
According to semiofficial Romanian sources, the national income
increased by six times during the twenty-year period between 1950 and
1970, and real wages, by 2.7 times. Between 1966 and 1970 improved
economic conditions and a broader based industry had created about
800,000 new jobs, most of them in the industrial sector.
Increases in national income have been accompanied by increased outlays
for social and cultural programs. The 1970 allocations for such programs
were ten times greater than in 1950 and amounted to 27.5 percent of the
total national budget.
Housing, production of consumer items, and changes in food consumption
had also improved. Between 1966 and 1970 about 345,000 state-funded
apartments and about 315,000 privately built dwellings became available.
New facilities for production of automobiles, furniture, wearing
apparel, television sets, and other domestic electrical appliances
increased output in these areas by about seven times that of 1950. Foods
with high nutritive value were consumed in larger quantities.
Consumption of milk, garden vegetables, fruit, eggs, and fish nearly
doubled between 1966 and 1970. More meat and cheese were also eaten, but
the increase in their consumption was less spectacular.
Efforts on behalf of public health were reflected in increasing the life
expectancy from forty-two years in 1932 to a figure that was more than
60 percent greater in 1970. Additional and better equipped hospitals and
other medical facilities contributed to this, as did more emphasis on
public sanitation and increased numbers of doctors and medical
assistants. In 1970 there was a ratio of one physician for every 700
inhabitants, which was near the overall European average.
Despite an impressive record of achievements in the production of
industrial goods, the standard of living--with the exception of
Albania's and Portugal's--was probably the lowest in Europe in 1971.
During the preceding twenty years production of consumer goods was held
down, while heavy capital investment was encouraged. This was deliberate
economic practice calculated to be of maximum benefit to the country in
time but not intended to produce the greatest immediate results.
The rent for an ordinary three-room apartment in 1971 was about
one-third of the average worker's monthly wages; the cost of a new
automobile was about forty times his monthly income. Housing area was
small, the countrywide average being about eighty-two square feet of
living space per person. Although about 140,000 urban apartment units
became available in 1969 and similar numbers were programmed for
succeeding years, the housing situation was worse in cities than in
small towns and rural areas.
Commentary on the lot of the consumer varies widely, frequently to the
point of direct contradiction. Visitors that have had a less than
totally favorable impression of the country report that food items--even
the common staples, such as eggs, cheese, and sausage--are not always
available and that, when they are, purchasers wait in long lines.
Because food items are often available only in small shops individually
specializing in milk, cheese and sausage, or vegetables and eggs, for
example, the mere task of buying food is a time-consuming undertaking.
Persons disenchanted with the situation also complain that, although
poor harvests in 1968 and 1969 and floods in 1970 contributed further to
food shortages, much was still exported during those years. In 1971 the
government reiterated its plans to devote primary attention to the
development of its heavy industrial base. Plans at that time, they
alleged, would discourage increased production of consumer goods through
1975 at the least.
TRANSPORTATION
Railroads
Romania's early rail lines were developed largely in relation to
external points rather than to serve local needs. Until World War I the
one major trunk line ran south and east of the Carpathians from western
Walachia to northern Moldavia. Feeder lines and branches connected to
it, but there was little early construction in the marshy areas near the
Danube River, and only one bridge, at Cernavoda, crossed it.
Transylvania, not yet part of the country, was linked to the old
provinces by only one line across the Carpathians. Total route mileage
was about 2,200 miles.
Hungary had developed lines connecting Budapest with Transylvania and
branch lines within that province. When the area was annexed in 1918,
Romania inherited the existing railroads and set about linking them more
advantageously with the rest of the country. Most of the modern system
was completed by 1938, but route mileage was increased by about another
10 percent after World War II. Late construction included another bridge
over the Danube River, this time at Giurgiu, south of Bucharest (see
fig. 4).
The system probably attained its maximum mileage in 1967, when it
totaled almost 6,900 route-miles, all but about 400 of them standard
gauge. About ten miles of line were retired during 1968 and 1969, and
other little-used feeder lines will probably be abandoned as it becomes
more practical to carry small loads over short distances by truck.
Railroads transported nearly ten times as much freight in 1969, measured
in ton-miles, as did the highways. Their average load was carried a
greater distance, however, and motor transport actually handled a larger
volume of cargo (see table 2). During 1969 the railroads also carried
over 300 million passengers, for an average trip distance of thirty-two
miles.
The Romanian State Railroads, directed by the Ministry of
Transportation, operates all but a few minor lines and, in 1969, had
about 147,000 employees. As steam locomotives are retired, they are
being replaced by diesels. Only a little more than 100 route-miles have
been electrified. Officials expect that roads and motor vehicles will
take increasing percentages of short-haul cargo and short-trip
passenger traffic. Airlines may cut somewhat into the long-distance
passenger traffic, but the railroads are expected to remain important
for both their freight and passenger services.
[Illustration: _Figure 4. Romanian Transportation System._]
_Table 2. Use of Transportation Facilities in Romania, 1950, 1960, and
1969_
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Total Freight Ton-Miles
(in million tons) (in millions)
Cargo Traffic -------------------------------------------------
1950 1960 1969 1950 1960 1969
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Railroads 35.1 77.5 155.4 4,740 12,380 27,500
Motor transport 1.0 56.7 215.6 26 583 2,830
Inland waterways 1.1 1.9 3.1 418 540 728
Sea 0.2 0.2 5.0 382 663 24,400
Air 0.003 0.003 0.02 1 1 21
Pipeline 1.0 5.6 9.2 118 637 790
--------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Total Passengers Passenger-Miles
(in millions) (in millions)
Passenger Traffic --------------------------------------------------
1950 1960 1969 1950 1960 1969
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Railroads 116.6 214.8 305.9 5,080 6,710 10,450
Motor transport 11.3 71.8 306.9 242 887 4,220
Inland waterways 0.6 1.2 1.4 10 25 43
Sea 0.05 0.08 0.02 59 17 14
Air 0.04 0.2 0.8 9 54 550
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Roads
Of the 47,800 miles of road, in 1969 about 6,000 miles--or 14
percent--were considered modernized. A little more than one-third had
gravel or crushed stone to harden them, and almost exactly one-half had
unimproved dirt surfaces.
About 7,600 miles were nationally maintained and included the greater
portion--5,200 miles--of those in the modernized, improved category.
Only about 1,400 miles of the local roads were modernized, and less than
one-half of them had hardened surfaces. According to government planning
reports, the road network is considered adequate in size, and all that
can be allocated to it will be applied to its modernization. Motor
transport was nearly negligible until after World War II, but between
1950 and 1969 it assumed importance that rivaled the railroads in both
cargo and passenger traffic.
Waterways
Nearly 1,500 miles of the rivers are considered navigable. All of the
Danube--over 900 miles--that is within or along the southern border of
the country is navigable and, in fact, connects the Black Sea and
Romania with all points upstream--through Yugoslavia, Hungary,
Czechoslovakia, and Austria to Ulm in West Germany. The Prut, flowing
along much of the eastern border with the Soviet Union, accounts for
most of the remaining navigable mileage. Other streams are useful in
some degree for timber rafting and for floating agricultural products
downstream. Rapid currents in hilly sections, silting and meandering
streambeds in the lowlands, and fog and ice in winter months, however,
limit the commercial usefulness of the rivers. Ice stops traffic on the
Danube River for an average of more than one month per year and on the
other streams from two to three months.
The country's topography does not lend itself to the development of an
extensive system of canals. There are short canals in the western
lowlands. Two of them connect to the Tisza River in Yugoslavia but, as
with this pair, further development of the waterways in this portion of
the country would be economically advantageous only when they connected
to points in Hungary or Yugoslavia. Most of the northern and central
regions are hilly or mountainous.
Cargo shipped on rivers and canals in 1969 was less than 1 percent of
that carried by the other transport systems, but most of it was
transported for relatively long distances along the Danube River.
Passengers carried constituted an even more minute percentage of the
total and, because the largest numbers of them rode river ferries, the
relative passenger mileage percentage was even lower.
Airlines
Commercial aviation is altogether state owned and is operated by an
office in the Department of Automotive, Maritime, and Air Transportation
that, with the Department of Railroads, is part of the Ministry of
Transportation. Romanian Air Transport--always referred to in common and
in most official usage as TAROM, derived from Transporturi Aeriene
Romane--serves a dozen or more cities in the country and contacts about
twenty national capitals outside the country. These include Moscow, all
of the capitals of the Warsaw Treaty Organization (Warsaw Pact) member
nations, and about a dozen capitals in Western Europe and the Middle
East. Service to nearly all of the external points consists of no more
than one round trip flight weekly to each. Domestic service has expanded
steadily since 1950 but varies throughout the year to provide more
frequent trips during the holiday and tourist seasons.
The line carries some cargo but an insignificant amount when compared
with other modes of transportation. It has, however, begun to carry a
more significant number of passengers. This traffic increased from less
than 40,000 in 1950 to about 780,000 in 1969. Each year since 1965 it
has carried approximately 100,000 more passengers than in the year
preceding.
Pipelines
Most liquid petroleum products and natural gas are moved via pipeline.
The largest network of liquid lines serves the large oilfield in the
Ploiesti area and the smaller one in west-central Walachia. They connect
the fields with refineries and transport the refined products to Danube
River ports and to Constanta on the Black Sea coast. Lines also transfer
crude oil from the Moldavian oilfield to its refineries, but there were
no lines in 1970 to transport finished products from those refineries.
Natural gas is piped to all parts of Transylvania from sources in the
center of the province, but the Carpathians are an obstacle to its
distribution to other parts of the country. One major line crosses the
Transylvanian Alps to serve the Bucharest area, and another crosses the
Moldavian Carpathians through Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej. It serves areas to
the southeast as far as Galati, on the Danube River.
Merchant Marine
The country has a small, but growing, merchant marine. Although most of
its ships are new, the more than 100 percent increase--to nearly 0.5
million deadweight tons--claimed to have been achieved between 1967 and
1969 was accounted for by less than a dozen ships, consisting of two
tankers and some bulk cargo carriers that were built in Japan. The
government releases no official statistics on its merchant fleet, but
fragmentary information indicates that before 1967 it consisted of about
thirty-five ships. One of them was a 2,000-deadweight-ton
passenger-cargo vessel, and there were a few tankers totaling something
over 100,000 deadweight tons. The remainder were freighters, averaging
about 5,000 deadweight tons each.
Statistics on goods transported by sea substantiate the size and growth
of the merchant marine fleet. Until about 1960 it had relatively little
importance, but by 1966 cargo carried was almost ten times that of 1960,
and by 1969 it had again tripled. The impressive growth statistics
notwithstanding, sea transport in 1969 accounted for only about 1.5
percent of the total cargo transported.
Constanta is the major port on the Black Sea, but some smaller seagoing
vessels go up the Danube River to Galati and Braila. All of the larger
river towns, and all of those on rail lines that cross it or terminate
at the river, are considered river ports. Mangalia, on the Black Sea
coast south of Constanta and about five miles from the Bulgarian border,
is a secondary seaport but has the country's largest naval installation
(see ch. 13).