Nord-Vest () is a development region in

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

, created in 1998. As other development regions, it does not have any administrative powers, its main function being to co-ordinate regional development projects and manage funds from the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

Counties

The Nord-Vest region is made up of the 6 following counties: * Bihor * Bistrița-Năsăud *

Cluj Cluj-Napoca ( ; ), or simply Cluj ( , ), is a city in northwestern Romania. It is the second-most populous city in the country and the seat of Cluj County. Geographically, it is roughly equidistant from Bucharest (), Budapest () and Belgrade ( ...

Maramureș ( ; ; ; ) is a geographical, historical and cultural region in northern Romania and western Ukraine. It is situated in the northeastern Carpathians, along parts of the upper Tisza River drainage basin; it covers the Maramureș Depression and the ...

Satu Mare Satu Mare (; ; ; or ) is a city with a population of 102,400 (2011). It is the capital of Satu Mare County, Romania, as well as the centre of the Satu Mare metropolitan area. It lies in the region of Maramureș, broadly part of Transylvania ...

* Sălaj

Economy

The economy of Nord-Vest is mainly agricultural (46% of its population having agriculture as their main occupation), even though there is some heavy and light industry in the major regional industrial centres of

Cluj-Napoca Cluj-Napoca ( ; ), or simply Cluj ( , ), is a city in northwestern Romania. It is the second-most populous city in the country and the seat of Cluj County. Geographically, it is roughly equidistant from Bucharest (), Budapest () and Belgrade ( ...

Oradea Oradea (, , ; ; ) is a city in Romania, located in the Crișana region. It serves as the administrative county seat, seat of Bihor County and an economic, social, and cultural hub in northwestern Romania. The city lies between rolling hills on ...

Baia Mare Baia Mare ( , ; ; ; ) is a Municipiu, city along the Săsar, Săsar River, in northwestern Romania; it is the capital of Maramureș County. The city lies in the region of Maramureș, a subregion of Transylvania. It is situated about from Buchare ...

Bistrița (; , archaic , Transylvanian Saxon: , ) is the capital city of Bistrița-Năsăud County, in northern Transylvania, Romania. It is situated on the Bistrița River. The city has a population of 78,877 inhabitants as of 2021 and administers s ...

and

Zalău Zalău (, unofficial and former official name: (; or , , ) is the seat of Sălaj County, Romania. In 2021, its estimated population was 52,359. History Ancient times Zalău is situated in the area inhabited by "Free Dacians", away from the h ...

. There are also several mining centres in

Maramureș County Maramureș County () is a county (județ) in Romania, in the Maramureș region. The county seat is Baia Mare. Name In Hungarian language, Hungarian it is known as ''Máramaros megye'', in Ukrainian language, Ukrainian as Мараморо́щ ...

and in the

Apuseni Mountains The Apuseni Mountains (, "Western Mountains"; , "Transylvanian Mountains") are a mountain range in Transylvania, Romania, which belongs to the Western Romanian Carpathians. The highest peak is the Bihor Peak at . The Apuseni Mountains have ab ...

. Many of these mining areas have been partly shut down, resulting in significant local unemployment, even though unemployment in the Nord-Vest region is at approximately 4%, below the Romanian national average of 5.5%. Many mining areas have been classified by the government as defavourised zones, with incentives given to investors who plan to create jobs in these areas and diversify the economy. The region's GDP per capita is slightly below the Romanian average (approximately 90% of the Romanian average), despite the fact that the major cities –

and

– are some of the most prosperous in Romania.

Infrastructure

The region is crossed by five European roads – E60, E81, E79, E671 and E58. Additionally, the A3 freeway is currently in construction and will cross

, Sălaj and Bihor counties in the region. Expressway DEX4 is currently being constructed in Cluj County and Expressway DEX16 is under construction in Bihor County. Nord-Vest also it has an extensive railway infrastructure connecting most of the important towns. The region has four airports –

and

. Currently, Cluj-Napoca, Oradea and Satu Mare airports have international flights while Baia Mare airport is temporarily closed.

Demographics

Romania's Nord-Vest development region has a total population of 2,600,132

Counties of Romania A total of 41 counties (), along with the municipality of Bucharest, constitute the official administrative divisions of Romania. They represent the country's NUTS-3 (Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics – Level 3) statistical su ...

(2011 Census). The region is one of the most ethnically-diverse in Romania, with 25% of the population coming from a minority group. After Romanians, who make up 75% of the population, the largest minority group are

Hungarians Hungarians, also known as Magyars, are an Ethnicity, ethnic group native to Hungary (), who share a common Culture of Hungary, culture, Hungarian language, language and History of Hungary, history. They also have a notable presence in former pa ...

, who comprise slightly less than 20% of the population. Hungarians are mainly concentrated in urban centres, especially those near the Hungarian border, such as

and

. The third largest minority are

Romani people {{Infobox ethnic group , group = Romani people , image = , image_caption = , flag = Roma flag.svg , flag_caption = Romani flag created in 1933 and accepted at the 1971 World Romani Congress , po ...

, who make up 3.5%, slightly above the national average. Romani people are spread relatively evenly throughout the region, even though the highest proportions are in

Bihor county Bihor County (, ) is a county (județ) in western Romania. With a total area of , Bihor is Romania's 6th largest county geographically and the main county in the historical region of Crișana. Its capital city is Oradea (Nagyvárad). Toponymy ...

, where approximately 5% of the population is Romani.

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditional ...

is the most widely spoken language, spoken as a first language by 76.6% of the inhabitants of the region. The other important languages are Hungarian, spoken by 19.9% of the population, Romani and Ukrainian. Religion is mainly based on ethnic groups, with the largest religion being

Romanian Orthodoxy The Romanian Orthodox Church (ROC; , ), or Romanian Patriarchate, is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church in full communion with other Eastern Orthodox Christian churches, and one of the nine patriarchates in the Eastern Orthodox Church. S ...

, observed by 68.38% of the population, mostly ethnic Romanians. Other important religions are the

Reformed Church Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Christian, Presbyterian, ...

(12.70%),

Roman Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

(6.86%) and Greek Catholicism (4.20%).

Age and fertility

The Nord-Vest region has the following age structure, according to the 2011 census:

Language

: 1,898,588 * Hungarian: 474,134 * Romani: 45,624 * Ukrainian: 32,056 * Slovak: 6,964 *

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

: 2,847 *Other: 3,567 *Unavailable information: 136,352

Religion

Romanian Orthodox The Romanian Orthodox Church (ROC; , ), or Romanian Patriarchate, is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church in full communion with other Eastern Orthodox Christian churches, and one of the nine patriarchates in the Eastern Orthodox Church. S ...

: 1,873,647 (68.38%) *

Reformed Reform is beneficial change. Reform, reformed or reforming may also refer to: Media * ''Reform'' (album), a 2011 album by Jane Zhang * Reform (band), a Swedish jazz fusion group * ''Reform'' (magazine), a Christian magazine Places * Reform, Al ...

: 347,857 (12.70%) *

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

: 187,988 (6.86%) *

Greek Catholic Greek Catholic Church or Byzantine-Catholic Church may refer to: * The Catholic Church in Greece * The Eastern Catholic Churches The Eastern Catholic Churches or Oriental Catholic Churches, also known as the Eastern-Rite Catholic Churches, Ea ...

: 114,978 (4.20%) *

Pentecostal Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a movement within the broader Evangelical wing of Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes direct personal experience of God in Christianity, God through Baptism with the Holy Spirit#Cl ...

: 106,959 (3.90%) *

Baptists Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

: 54,800 (2%) *

Atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

/No religion: 5,244 (0.19%)

Citizenship

99.9% of the population of Nord-Vest region has Romanian citizenship. There are 2,343 residents, or 0.09% of the population, of foreign citizenship, including: *Moldovan citizenship: 621 *Italian citizenship: 298 *Ukrainian citizenship: 156 2,687 people, or 0.10% of the population, has

dual citizenship Multiple citizenship (or multiple nationality) is a person's legal status in which a person is at the same time recognized by more than one sovereign state, country under its nationality law, nationality and citizenship law as a national or cit ...

References

{{coord, 46, 46, N, 23, 35, E, source:euwiki_region:RO_type:adm1st, display=title Development regions of Romania