Hunedoara County

Hunedoara () is a county (Judeţ) of Romania, in Transylvania, with its capital city at Deva.

Neighbours

Alba County in the East and North.
Arad County, Timiş County and Caraş-Severin County in the West.
Gorj County in the South.

The county is also part of the Danube-Kris-Mures-Tisza Euroregion.

Demographics

In 2002, it had a population of 485,712 and the population density was 69/km².

Romanians - 92%
Hungarians - 5%
Rromas - 2%
Germans under 1%.

On the Jiu River valley, a mining region, due to the high industrialisation of the region a lot of peoples have been brought from other regions of Romania.

official statistics

Geography

This county has a total area of 7,063 km².

Mainly, the relief is made up of mountains, divided by the Mureş River valley which crosses the county from East to West. To the North side there are the Apuseni Mountains and to the South side there are mountains from the Southern Carpathians group, Parâng Mountains group and Retezat-Godeanu Mountains group: Orastie and Surianu Mountains (South-East), Retezat Mountains (South), Poiana Ruscai Mountains (South-West).

Except from Mureş River with its affluents Strei, Rau Mare and Cerna, which forms wide valleys, in the North side Crişul Alb river also forms a valley in the Apuseni Mountains - Zarand region. In the South side along the Jiu River with its two branches West Jiu and East Jiu, there is a large depression, and an accessible route towards Southern Romania - Oltenia.

Economy

The industry in the Hunedoara county is linked with the mining activity in the region. In the mountains, from ancient times, metals and coal have been exploited. Nowadays, there is one large industrial complex at Hunedoara owned by Mittal Steel . Also energy related enterprises are located in the county - one of the biggest thermoelectric plant is located at Mintia.

The predominant industries in the county are:

Metallurgy.
Construction materials.
Textile industry.
Mining equipment.
Food industry.

In the 1990s, a large amount of mines were closed down, leaving Hunedoara county with the highest unemployment rate in Romania, of 9.6%, in comparison to the national average of 5.5%.

Tourism

Retezat National Park and other picturesque regions makes it one of the most beautiful counties in Romania. Also there can be found Dacians and Romans complexes in the Orăştie Mountains

The main tourist attractions in the county are:

The Dacian Fortresses of the Orastie Mountains - nowadays part of UNESCO World Heritage.
Colonia Augusta Ulpia Traiana Dacica Sarmizegetusa - the capital of the Roman province of Dacia.
The medieval edifices of Deva, Strei, Dobra.
The Medieval Castle from Hunedoara

Administrative divisions

The county has 7 municipalities, 7 towns and 55 communes.

Municipalities

Deva - capital city; population: 77,259
Hunedoara
Brad
Lupeni
Orăştie
Petroşani
Vulcan

Towns

Communes

Dobra, Romania