Brăila County

Brăila County (Romanian pronunciation: [brəˈila] ^ⓘ) is a county (județ) of Romania, in Muntenia, with the capital city at Brăila.

Brăila County Județul Brăila
County
Coat of arms
Coordinates: 45.11°N 27.68°E / 45.11; 27.68
Country	Romania
Development region1	Sud-Est
Historic region	Muntenia
Capital city (Reședință de județ)	Brăila
Government
• Type	County Council
• President of the County Council	Francisk-Iulian Chiriac [ro] (PSD)
• Prefect2	Iulian Timofei [ro]
Area
• County	4,766 km2 (1,840 sq mi)
• Rank	32nd in Romania
Population  (2021-12-01)[1]
• County	281,452
• Rank	30th in Romania
• Density	59/km2 (150/sq mi)
• Urban	172,533
Time zone	UTC+2 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+3 (EEST)
Postal Code	81wxyz3
Area code	+40 x394
Car Plates	BR5
GDP	US$1.930 billion (2015)
GDP/capita	US$6,315 (2015)
Website	County Council County Prefecture
1The developing regions of Romania have no administrative role. They were formed just to attract funds from the European Union 2 as of 2007, the Prefect is not a politician, but a public functionary. He (or she) is not allowed to be a member of a political party, and is banned to have any political activity in the first six months after the resignation (or exclusion) from the public functionary corps 3w, x, y, and z are digits that indicate the city, the street, part of the street, or even the building of the address 4x is a digit indicating the operator: 2 for the former national operator, Romtelecom, and 3 for the other ground telephone networks 5used on both the plates of the vehicles that operate only in the county limits (like utility vehicles, ATVs, etc.), and the ones used outside the county

Demographics

At the 2021 Romanian census, Brăila County had a population of 281,452 (172,533 people in urban areas and 108,919 people in rural areas.) and the population density was 59.1/km² (152.9/sq mi).^[2]

• Romanians – 98%^[3]
• Romani, Russians, Lipovans, Aromanians, and others - c. 2%

Year	County population[4]
1948	271,251
1956	297,276
1966	339,954
1977	377,954
1992	392,069
2002	373,174
2011	304,925
2021	281,452

Geography

This county has a total area of 4,766 km² (1,840 sq mi).

All the county lies on a flat plane: the Bărăgan Plain, one of the best areas for growing cereals in Romania.

On the east side there is the Danube, which forms an island – the Great Brăila Island –surrounded by the Măcin channel, Cremenea channel, and Vâlciu channel. On the northern side there is the Siret River and on the north-western side there is the Buzău River.

Neighbours

AB

AR

AG

BC

BH

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BT

BV

BR

BZ

CS

CL

CJ

CT

CV

DB

DJ

GL

GR

GJ

HR

HD

IL

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IF

MM

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B

• Tulcea County in the east.
• Buzău County in the west.
• Galați County and Vrancea County in the north.
• Ialomița County and Constanța County in the south.

Economy

The agriculture is the main occupation in the county. Industry is almost entirely concentrated in the city of Brăila. The predominant industries in the county are:

• Food industry.
• Textile industry.
• Mechanical components industry.

In Brăila there is an important harbour, once the biggest cereal harbour in Romania.

Tourism

DN21, a road in Romania, in Brăila County

The main tourist destinations are:

• The city of Brăila.
• The Lacu Sărat resort.

Politics

The Brăila County Council, renewed at the 2020 local elections, consists of 30 counsellors, with the following party composition:^[5]

	Party	Seats	Current County Council
	Social Democratic Party (PSD)	17
	National Liberal Party (PNL)	10
	People's Movement Party (PMP)	3

Administrative divisions

Brăila

City hall in Ianca, the second largest urban locality in Brăila County

See also: Cantemir metropolitan area

Brăila County has 1 municipality, 3 towns, and 40 communes

• Municipalities
  • Brăila – capital city; population: 154,686 (as of 2021)
• Towns
  • Făurei
  • Ianca
  • Însurăței

• Communes
  • Bărăganul
  • Berteștii de Jos
  • Bordei Verde
  • Cazasu
  • Chiscani
  • Ciocile
  • Cireșu
  • Dudești
  • Frecăței
  • Galbenu
  • Gemenele
  • Grădiștea
  • Gropeni
  • Jirlău
  • Mărașu
  • Măxineni
  • Mircea Vodă
  • Movila Miresii
  • Racovița
  • Râmnicelu
  • Romanu
  • Roșiori
  • Salcia Tudor
  • Scorțaru Nou
  • Siliștea
  • Stăncuța
  • Surdila-Găiseanca
  • Surdila-Greci
  • Șuțești
  • Tichilești
  • Traian
  • Tudor Vladimirescu
  • Tufești
  • Ulmu
  • Unirea
  • Vădeni
  • Victoria
  • Vișani
  • Viziru
  • Zăvoaia

Historical county

Județul Brăila
County (Județ)
The Brăila County prefecture and court building from the interwar period, now the engineering building of Dunărea de Jos University.
Coat of arms
Country	Romania
Historic region	Muntenia
Capital city (Reședință de județ)	Brăila
Area
• Total	4,286 km2 (1,655 sq mi)
Population  (1930)
• Total	219,932
• Density	51/km2 (130/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+2 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+3 (EEST)

Historically, the county was located in the southeastern part of Greater Romania, in the northeastern part of the Muntenia region. Its territory included the portions of the current county to the east and south-east of the Buzău River. It was bordered on the west by the counties of Buzău and Râmnicu-Sărat, to the north by Covurlui County, to the east by Tulcea County, and to the south by the counties of Constanța and Ialomița.

Administration

Map of Brăila County as constituted in 1938.

The county was originally divided administratively into four districts (plăși):^[6]

1. Plasa Călmățui, with headquarters at Făurei
2. Plasa Ianca, with headquarters at Ianca
3. Plasa Silistraru, with headquarters at Silistraru
4. Plasa Viziru, with headquarters at Viziru

Subsequently, Plasa Călmățui, was abolished and two new districts were established in its place:

1. Plasa I.I.C. Brătianu, with headquarters at Făurei
2. Plasa Vădeni, with headquarters at Vădeni

Population

Map of Brăila County's ethnic groups as reported in the 1930 census.

According to the 1930 census data, the county population was 219,831 inhabitants, ethnically divided as follows: 89.4% Romanians, 3.1% Jews, 2.2% Greeks, 0.7% Hungarians, 0.6% Russians, as well as other minorities.^[7] From the religious point of view, the population was 93.6% Eastern Orthodox, 3.3% Jewish, 1.2% Roman Catholic, as well as other minorities.^[8]

Urban population

In 1930, the county's urban population was 68,347 inhabitants, comprising 75.4% Romanians, 9.7% Jews, 6.7% Greeks, 1.7% Hungarians, 1.6% Russians, as well as other minorities.^[7] Mother tongues among the urban population were Romanian (82.6%), Greek (5.8%), Yiddish (4.8%), Russian (1.9%), Hungarian (1.5%), as well as other minorities. From the religious point of view, the urban population was composed of 84.4% Eastern Orthodox, 10.4% Jewish, 3.2% Roman Catholic, as well as other minorities.^[8]