Romania Crossword Puzzle for Kids

Romania (old spelling: Rumania, Roumania;, ) is a country in Eastern and Southeastern Europe. It is north of the Balkan Peninsula, on the Lower Danube River. Western Romania is circled by the Carpathian Mountains. Romania also has a border on the Black Sea. Most of the Danube Delta is found inside Romania. Romania shares borders with Hungary and Serbia to the west, Ukraine to the far northeast, the Republic of Moldova to the near northeast, and Bulgaria to the south.

Romania is a semi-presidential unitary state. It was created when Moldavia and Wallachia joined in 1859. It was given its independence in the Treaty of Berlin of 1878. At the end of World War II, some of its land (close by what is now known as Moldova) was occupied by the USSR. After the Iron Curtain fell in 1989 Romania was liberated from the communist regime. During the 2000s, Romania made changes to the country, such as reform the democratic system, human rights acts, freedom of speech acts, economy and law. That let Romania join the European Union on January 1, 2007.

Romania has the 9th biggest area of land and the 7th biggest population (with 19 million people) of the European Union member states. The capital and biggest city in Romania is Bucharest, with a population of 1.6 million. One of the cities in Transylvania, Sibiu, was named a European Capital of Culture in 2007 and a city in Banat, Timișoara, held the same title in 2023. Romania joined NATO on March 29, 2004.

Origin

The word Romania (Rumania or România) comes from the Romanian word Român, which comes from the Latin word Romanus which means "Roman". English texts still used the word Rumania during World War II. This came from the French word Roumanie.

Geography

Romania is a part of southeastern Europe. It borders the Black Sea and the Danube River. The Carpathian Mountains lie in the center.

Romania is the biggest country in southeast Europe by population. It has an area of 238391 km2. It is the twelfth-largest country in Europe. Most of Romania's border with Serbia and Bulgaria is made by the Danube. The Danube joins the Prut River. The Prut River makes the Moldovan–Romanian border. The Danube then flows into the area of the Black Sea inside Romania. This makes the Danube Delta. The delta is a biosphere reserve and a biodiversity World Heritage Site. Some of the other major rivers in Romania are the Siret, the Olt, and the Mureş. The Siret River runs from the north to the south of Moldavia. The Olt River runs from the Carpathian Mountains to Oltenia. The Mureş runs through Transylvania from the east to the west.

The land in Romania is made up of equal parts of mountains, hills, and low-lying areas. The Carpathian Mountains make up a big part of the center of Romania. Fourteen of its mountain ranges are taller than 2000 m. The tallest mountain in Romania is Moldoveanu Peak, with a peak altitude of 2544 m.

The Danube is the longest river in Romania. Its length inside Romania is about 1000 km. That is almost half of the length of the entire Danube. Almost all of the rivers in Romania are either direct or indirect tributaries of the Danube.

Romania has a climate that changes between temperate and continental climates. The reason for the climate changes is because Romania is near the coast. Romania has four different seasons. The average temperature during the year is 11 °C in southern Romania and 8 °C in the northern part.

Society

The official language of Romania is Romanian. The Romanian language is an Eastern Romance language.

Romania has its own culture because of where it is found. It is the point where 3 different areas meet: Central Europe, Eastern Europe, and the Balkans. Romanian culture is a mix of all these areas. The culture of Romania was influenced by the Greeks, Romans, and Slavs. Traditional Romanian cuisine includes mămăligă, a type of Polenta made out of Corn flour, mici, a type of Sausages, Sarmale and Chiftele, a type of meatballs. Popular types of meat in Romania include pork and beef. The most popular alcoholic drink in Romania is Țuică. Romania is a orthodox christian state, and borrows western holidays like Christmas and Easter, while having its own non-working holidays, like Great Union Day, celebrating Romania's union with Transylvania. Ie is a Romanian traditional costume, worn during Great Union Day and Little Union Day (holiday celebrating Wallachia's union with Moldavia).

Romania is a secular state. This means Romania has no national religion. The biggest religious group in Romania is the Romanian Orthodox Church. It is an autocephalous church inside of the Eastern Orthodox communion. In 2002, this religion made up 86.7% of the population. Other religions in Romania include Roman Catholicism (4.7%), Protestantism (3.7%), Pentecostalism (1.5%), Islam (1%) and the Romanian Greek-Catholicism (0.9%).

Bucharest is the capital of Romania. It also is the biggest city in Romania, with a population of over 2 millions peoples.

There are 5 other cities in Romania that have a population of more than 300,000 people. These are Iaşi, Cluj-Napoca, Timişoara, Constanţa, and Craiova. Romania also has 5 cities that have more than 200,000 people living in them: Galaţi, Braşov, Ploieşti, Brăila, and Oradea.

Arts

Romania was home to a mixture of great artists. Early pioneers of Romanian enlightenment include Dimitrie Cantemir, Ion Budai Deleanu and Dinicu Golescu. Romanian writers Mihai Eminescu, Ion Creangă, Ion Luca Caragiale and Ioan Slavici are hailed as "The great classics" of Romanian literature. 20th century writers that rose to prominence include Mihail Sadoveanu, Lucian Blaga, Mircea Eliade and Tristan Tzara. Nicolae Grigorescu and Theodor Aman are known as founders of modern Romanian art, while Constantin Brâncuși had international contributions to sculpture. The greatest Romanian composer was George Enescu. Great playwrights in Romania include Eugène Ionesco and Mihail Sebastian. The biggest architectural wonders in Romania include wooden churches, Casa poporului, the Romanian atheneum and the Parliamentary palace.

Economy

Romania joined the European Union on January 1, 2007. Romania's economy is healthy. Currently, Romania makes around $350 billion in Gross domestic product and a GDP per capita of $16,540.

Long into the 1900s, Romania was still a largely agricultural country. During Communism 1947-1989, the country had planned economy. The transition from planned economy to a market economy after the communist regime led to economic collapse in the 1990s, the reasons was that more money was printed, expensive prices and substantial privatization of the companies, which initially leads to skyrocketing unemployment. The reforms in the 1990s allowed foreign investors for the first time to buy land in Romania. When it was going well for industry in the Latin countries such as France, Italy and Spain, they began to trade with Romania. Foreign companies have expanded in Romania since then, and spurs the market.

Romania has the highest percentage of homeowners in Europe. The fall of communism prompted many Romanians to purchase the flats they lived in cheaply while the country underwent a wave of privatization and devaluation of the currency.

Education

In Romania school is compulsory for 10 years. Children have the opportunity to be part of a voluntary pre-school for age 3–6 years. After school, students can voluntarily take the entrance exam to high school, which has a range of practical and theoretical lines. There are over 40 higher educational institutions, including five universities and five technical colleges. Tuition is free and is a hot political commitment even at the university. The country's minorities can have instruction in their native language. Since 1989, education has been reformed. But it has been slow and the standard of education varies greatly in different parts of the country, Education has improved the standard of urban compared to rural areas where quality can be very low. Romania participates fully in the EU's education program.

Social welfare

The unemployment rate in Romania is 5% in 2023 and has been low for many years.

Living standards were very low at the end of the Communist era, but the situation improved a little bit during the 1990s. The large privatization resulted in high unemployment and rising prices. In 2010 nearly 10% of the population were in absolute poverty and of these, 90% live in rural areas. The State social insurance system has relatively broad coverage but resources are extremely small.

Reforms have been initiated and in 1999 the health insurance became privatized and paid by the employers and the employees. Several thousand local trade unions were founded after the revolution, which were later combined into federations. These unions and federations have helped organize students, pensioners and the unemployed; because these groups of people all have similar needs, concerns and goals.

By the first quarter of 2011 the average monthly household income is 2,318 Romanian leu (equivalent to approximately £862 USD). Income is 36% higher in the urban area than in the countryside.

The most worrying thing is the fact that there are more pensioners than the number of working people. because many who dismissed during the privatizations had per-retirement. Romanian Pensioners average pension at the month is at about 190 euros (equivalent to approximately £250-300 USD). The current low average retirement age (55 years for men and 57 years for women) will be gradually increased until 2014, when it gets to 60 years for women and 65 years for men.

Text adapted from the Simple English Wikipedia article “Romania” (revision 10897901, 2026-06-23), authors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.