Area: 237,499 square kilometers.

Topography: Almost evenly divided among hills, mountains, and plains mountains dominate center and northwest plains cover south and east. Highest point, 2,544 meters.

Climate: Transitional from temperate in southwest to coÍÍÍÍntinental in northeast. Average annual precipitation, 637 millimeters.

SOCIETY

Population: 23,153,475 (July 1989) average annual growth rate 0.44 percent.

Ethnic Groups: 89.1 percent Romanian, 7.8 percent Hungarian, 1.5 percent German, 1.6 percent Ukrainian, Serb, Croat, Russian, Turk, and Gypsy.

Language: Romanian spoken in all regions Hungarian and German commonly used in Transylvania and Banat. Systematic discrimination against minority languages.

Education: Mandatory attendance, ten years literacy, 98 percent. Highly centralized. Marxist ideology and nationalistic values stressed at all levels. In 1980s technical and vocational education emphasized.

Religion: About 70 percent Romanian Orthodox, 6 percent Uniate, 6 percent Roman Catholic, 6 percent Protestant, 12 percent unaffiliated or other.

Health and Welfare: Free health care provided by state. Most serious health threats cancer, cardiovascular disease, alcoholism. Infant mortality rate, 25 per 1,000 live births (1989). In 1989 life expectancy for men 67.0 and for women 72.6 years. Pensions inadequate health care for elderly generally poor. Rural areas neglected.

Data as of July 1989