Municipality in Romania

A municipiu (from Latin municipium; English: municipality) is a level of administrative subdivision in Romania and Moldova, roughly equivalent to city in some English-speaking countries.

In Romania, this status is given to towns that are quite large and urbanized; at present, there are 103 municipii. There is no clear benchmark regarding the status of municipiu even though it applies to localities which have a sizeable population, usually above 15,000, and extensive urban infrastructure. Localities that do not meet these loose guidelines are classified only as towns (orașe), or if they are not urban areas, as communes (comune). Cities are governed by a mayor and local council. There are no official administrative subdivisions of cities even though, unofficially, municipalities may be divided into quarters/districts (cartiere in Romanian). The exception to this is Bucharest, which has a status similar to that of a county, and is officially subdivided into six administrative sectors.

In Moldova, a 2002 law provides that the status applies of cities that play an important role in the country's economic, social, cultural, scientific, political and administrative life.

†Lost status in 1938.

Of the seventeen municipii created in 1925, three are no longer in Romania: Cernăuți, Cetatea Albă and Chișinău. Additionally, Bălți became one in 1929; together with Cetatea Albă, it lost the title in 1938. Cluj and Oradea temporarily lost the title in 1940 as a result of the Second Vienna Award, while it was granted to Odessa and Tiraspol during the Transnistria Governorate period. The status was not used between 1950 and 1968, so that cities which lost it in 1950 were reassigned it in 1968.

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