Bacau county: Facts and figures

Total surface area: 6,621 sq km

Towns and cities: 8, three of which are cities: Bacau, Onesti and Moinesti

Rural towns: 85

Villages: 491

Bacau county is located in eastern Romania, in the historical province of Moldavia. It is bounded by the counties of Neamt to the North, Vaslui to the East, Vrancea to the South, Covasna and Harghita to the West.

The county surface area accounts for 2.8 percent of Romania’s area.

According to the 2011 census, Bacau county had a stable population of 616,168. The stable population of the most important cities and towns is as follows: Bacau 144,307 locals, Onesti 39,172 locals, Moinesti 21,787 locals and the town of Comanesti 19,568 locals. As many as 267,141 persons are residents of the towns and cities, accounting for 43.4 percent of the stable population. As compared to the prior census, the urban stable population share dropped by 2.8 percent, being gained by the rural area.

The information relating the ethnicity was collected at the census from 579,580 persons, with 558,507 of them (96.36 percent) declaring themselves Romanian. There were 4,208 ethnic Hungarians (0.73 percent) and 15,284 Roma — or Gypsies (2.64 percent).

Bacau county has a mountainous area that includes the central-eastern Eastern Carpathians group to the West; there also are the Sub-Carpathian Hills and Tazlau-Casin depression;also lying in the county is part of the Siret river meadow and part of the Barlad Highland. The Tarcaului, Oituzului, Gosmanului and Berzunti Mountains are part of the Carpathian range. The Grindusul-Tarbaus peak in the Tarcaului Mountains is the county’s highest at 1,662 meters.

Bacau county is crossed by the rivers: Siret, nearly 80-km long, Bistrita (crossing the city of Bacau) and Trotus (crossing the towns of Comanesti and Targu-Ocna). The Siret is the main collector of the hydrographic network, lying over 145 km for tributaries like the Trotus, Bistrita, Tutova, Zeletin and Racatau. Other rivers in the county include the Tazlau, Uz, Casin (crossing the city of Onesti), Oituz, Slanic.

Most lakes in the county of Bacau have resulted from the dams built on the rivers Bistrita (at Garleni, Bacau I and II) and the Uz (Poiana Uzului); there is also a natural lake, Balatau, formed in 1883. The county’s location East of the main peak of the Eastern Carpathians makes its climate temperate continental.

The main tourist areas of Bacau county include Slanic Moldova, Poiana Sarata, Magura, Targu Ocna, Poiana Uzului, generally the valleys of Oituz, Casin and Trotus. The spa tourism is focused in Slanic Moldova resort, which boasts 21 mineral water springs containing chlorine and salts, slightly sulfurous and non-thermal.

Bacau county has such wildlife reserves in the Bacau County Council records as: Nemira Wildlife Reserve, along the Nemira Mountain range (3491.2 hectares); Lake Balatau Wildlife Reserve in Darmanesti town, on Izvorul Negru stream (a fresh water natural dam lake, 4.8 hectares); Izvorul Alb Wildlife Reserve lying on the right bank of the Izvorul Alb stream, in Darmanesti (it hosts a 210-hectare conifer and deciduous forest); Magura-Targu Ocna Wildlife Reserve located on the right bank of the Trotus and the left bank of the Slanic, between the highways linking Targu Ocna to Comanesti and Targu Ocna to Slanic Moldova (45.1 hectares of grassy formations and bushes, 112.83 hectares of forests and 2.66 hectares of rocky areas); Perchiu Wildlife Reserve located North of Onesti, on the highway linking Onesti to Targu Ocna (89.80 hectares of grassy formations, 79.18 hectares of forests and 37.49 hectares of other kind of land); Arsura Wildlife Reserve, North of Onesti, on the highway linking Onesti to Targu Ocna (89.80 hectares of grassy formations, 79.18 hectares of forests and 37.49 hectares of other kind of land); Bucias Wildlife Reserve including Bucias Gorges and waterfall located in the rural town of Manastirea Casin, 25 km from Onesti and 2 km from the place where Bucias stream joins Casin stream (471 hectares); bird protection areas on the Siret and Bistrita rivers along the highways linking Piatra Neamt to Bacau and Bacau to Adjud: lakes Lilieci (262 hectares), Bacau II (202 hectares), Galbeni (1,123 hectares), Racaciuni (2,004 hectares), Beresti (1,800 hectares). The list of the protected wildlife areas declared under Law no. 5/2000 also includes natural monuments: The Limestones with Litothamnius (Ciresoaia), Cineretele at Nuteasca — Ruseni (Cleja) that contain ancient consolidated volcanic ash, the Fossilized Point at Carligata (Margineni), the Fossilized Point at La Runc (Gura Vaii), Pietrosu Formation-type Layers (Margineni), Supan Formation-type Layers (Comanesti).

Bacau county is rich in natural resources: oil (Moinesti, Comanesti, Zemes, Darmanesti), salt (Targu Ocna, where the mine has never stopped working) and building materials.

Bacau county farming has around 320,000 hectares available, accounting for 2.2 percent of the overall Romanian agricultural area.

The county of Bacau used to be an industrial pole in the Moldavian region, but its main activity at present is trade. Oil industry remains one of the important sectors of the county’s industry by the two refiners based at Onesti and Darmanesti. Construction also has an important share in the county’s economy, at 19 percent by the turnover of the local units operating by fields of activity.

The main companies based in Bacau county are Chimcomplex S.A. Borzesti, one of the most important chemical products makers in Romania and aircraft and spaceship maker Aerostar Bacau. AGERPRES