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 5,809 square kilometres (2,243 sq mi), with Timiș County (8,697 square kilometres (3,358 sq mi)) the largest and Ilfov County (1,583 square kilometres (611 sq mi)) the smallest. The municipality of 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 228 square kilometres (88 sq mi).
History
The 71 counties of Romania between 1925 and 1940Current counties imposed over the inter-war counties
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.[5][6] 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.[5][6] Until 1948, each județ was further divided into several plăși, each administered by a pretor.[7]
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.[6]
In 1938, King Carol II modified the law on the administration of the Romanian territory according to the fascist model.[8] 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.[5][9]
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.[5] Between 1941 and 1944, Romania administered the territory between the Dniester and Southern Bug rivers known as Transnistria, which consisted of 13 separate counties.[10]
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.[11] 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.[12]
In 1981, Giurgiu and Călărași were split from Ialomița and the former county of Ilfov,[12] while in 1997, Ilfov County, which had been a dependency of the municipality of Bucharest for nearly two decades, was reinstated.[13][14] 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.[5][6]
At present, Romania is divided into 41 counties and one municipality (Bucharest); these are assigned as the NUTS-3geocode statistical subdivision scheme of Romania within the European Union.[15] Each of the counties is further divided into cities (some of which have municipality 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.[16] The territorial districts of the Romanian judicial system overlap with county borders, thus avoiding further complication in the separation of powers on the government.[5]
^Județ originates from the Latin judicium and ținut probably from the Latin tenutum.
^Most 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.
^These 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.
^The 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.
^Landline 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.
^The 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.
^Bucharest is not a county, but a municipality that has an identical administrative status to all the other 41 counties.
^Due to Bucharest's significantly larger population, it has a different postal code for each of its six sectors.
^ abBucharest 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).
^Dolj is a shortened form of Dolu (Slavic for "valley") Jiu, in reference to the county's location in the lower part of Jiu river.
^Gorj is a shortened form of Gora (Slavic for "mountain") Jiu, in reference to the county's location in the upper part of Jiu river.
^ abcCosmin Dariescu (2008). "21: Organizarea administrativ-teritorială a Țării Românești și a Moldovei în evul mediu (21: Administrative Divisions in Wallachia and Moldavia in the Middle Ages)". Istoria statului și dreptului românesc din antichitate până la Marea Unire (History of Romanian State and Law from Antiquity until the Unification) (in Romanian). C.H. Beck. pp. 47–51. ISBN978-973-115-337-7.
^Cosmin Dariescu (2008). "16: Domnia în Țările Române medievale (16: Rulers in the Romanian Principalities in the Middle Ages)". Istoria statului și dreptului românesc din antichitate până la Marea Unire (History of Romanian State and Law from Antiquity until the Unification) (in Romanian). C.H. Beck. pp. 35–39. ISBN978-973-115-337-7.
^Günther H. Tontsch (2000). "Juristische Literatur zur rumänischen Verwaltungsgeschichte im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert (Law Literature on the Romanian Administrative History in the 19th and 20th Centuries)". Jahrbuch für Europäische Verwaltungsgeschichte (Yearbook of European Administrative History) (in German). Vol. 12. Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlag. p. 285. ISSN0937-7107.
^Anatol Petrenci (2006). Basarabia în timpul celui de-al doilea război mondial: 1939–1945 (Bessarabia During the Second World War: 1939–1945) (in Romanian). Chișinău, Moldova: Ed. Prut Internațional. ISBN978-9975-69-049-2.
^"Postal code search" (in Romanian). Compania Nationala Posta Romania SA. Retrieved 2010-08-22.
^"List of the county prefixes in Romania" (in Romanian). National Regulatory Authority for Communications and Information Technology (Romania). 2005-04-26. Archived from the original on 2012-02-05. Retrieved 2010-08-22.
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