Photo credit: (c) Paul BUCIUTA / AGERPRES ARCHIVE

Arad County is located in the western part of Romania, bordered by the counties of Bihor, to the north and north-east; Alba to the east; Hunedoara to south-east; Timis to the south and Hungary to the west. Opened in the county are the following border crossing points: Nadlac (Romania) — Nagylak (Hungary), for road traffic; Turnu (Romania) — Battonya (Hungary), for road traffic; Varsand (Romania) — Gyula (Hungary), for road traffic; Curtici (Romania) — Lokoshaza (Hungary), for railroad traffic; Vladimirescu (Romania) — Lokoshaza (Hungary), for railroad traffic.

According to the latest census of population and housing, the resident population of Arad County was standing at 430,629 as of October 2011, 223,121 of whom were women (51.8 percent). The resident population of the largest locality on the county, the municipality of Arad numbers 159,100 people. In the county’s towns and municipalities there are 238,600 people, or 55.4 percent of the total resident population. The resident population of the most important cities is as follows: Arad municipality (159,100 people), Pecica (12,800 people), Santana (11,400 people) and Lipova (10,300 people). Information about ethnic background was available for 404,800 people, 340,700 of whom stated themselves as Romanian (84.2 percent). The registered ethnic Hungarians were 36,600 (9 percent), while the number of people having stated themselves as Roma was 16,500 (4.1 percent). Other ethnic backgrounds in excess of 100 people are Slovakian (4,500 people), German (2,900) and Ukrainian (1,300).

The Arad county overlaps the territory from the Apuseni Mts. (eastern Arad) to the large plain formed by the Mures and Crisul Alb rivers. Relief grows in altitude from the west to the east, with three main relief units: the Western Plain (that includes the High Plain of Arad and the Plain of Crisul Alb), the Western Hills and the Apuseni Mountains. The most representative relief units in the county are: the Codru-Moma Mountains (elevation 1,112 meters Plesu Peak), the Bihor Mountains (1,486 meters Gaina Peak), Zarand Mountains, Codru Piedmont, Zarand Depression, Moneasa-Ramsa Inter-mountain Depression, Almas Gurahont Depression, Halmagiu Depression, Lipova Hills, Mures Corridor (Lipova-Petris), Arad Plain, Vinga Plain, Teuz Plain and the Crisul Alb Plain.

The county’s drainage is made up by the Mures river and its tributaries Crisul Alb and several rivers composing the drainage network of Crisul Negru (Teuz, Sartis). The county’s lakes have various origins, natural lakes, meadow lakes and anthropogenic lakes.

The list of protected areas in the Arad county includes: Dosul Laurului-Zimbru Reserve (Gurahont rural town), the Narcissus Glade at Rovina, the Rovina Moor, the Soimos Moor (nearby Lipova), Dutu Cave, Sinesie Cave, fossilipherous place Zabalt (Ususau rural town), fossilipherous place Monorostia (Barzava commune), Beech Forest at Archisel (Archis commune), ‘Dealu Mocrea’ Ineu Reserve, Mixed Reserve ‘Prundul Mare’ (Secusigiu commune), Moneasa Mixed Nature Reserve, “Dealul Plesa” Sebis Reserve.

The most important underground resources are: hydrocarbon deposits (Pecica, Peregu Mic, Seitin, Santana), marble (Moneasa quarry), molybdenum ores (Savarsin), gravel (Ghioroc), kaolin (Agrisu Mare), dolomite (Galsa), granite (Radna), andesite stone (Leasa, Mocrea, Paulian, Sebis quarry) and mineral waters (Lipova, Moneasa, Macea, Curtici, Dorobanti, Sofronea and Mocrea).

Trade plays an important role in the county’s economy, followed by industry. The German investors top the ranking of the largest companies in the county.AGERPRES