BOTOSANI COUNTY - Geography and history
Botosani county is located in the north-east corner of the country, near the border with Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova, other neighbours are the counties of Iasi to the south and Suceava to the west. The county's total area is 4 986 km2. The administrative organisation of the territory, as of 31 December 2000, was as follows: 2 municipalities, 2 towns, 68 communes and 336 villages. The capital city is the municipality of Botosani.
The county's geography is hilly and belongs to the Moldova Plateau (Jijia Plain).
The climate features cold winters and hot, draughty summers. Between 1996 and 2000, the air temperature oscillated between -27.70C (29.11.1996) and +38.6°C (22.08.2000). During the same interval, the least rainfall was recorded in 2000 (454.9 mm/m2), and a maximum was recorded in 1998 (823.7 mm/m2).
There is a dense water network Lakes and running waters account for 138.3 km2 of the county's total area (2.8%). The main running waters are the Prut, Siret, Jijia, and Baseu rivers, and theNegreni and Sulita lakes are the biggest, also known as fisheries. The biggest water accumulation is located on the Prut river, on the border with the Republic of Moldova - the accumulation lake of Stânca, in the Stefanesti commune, with a capacity of 1.4 billion m3 and a total area of 5,900 ha (at normal level). The purpose of this accumulation lake is the prevention of floods, the irrigation of lands and the supply of drinking water to the localities in the area. This water area makes of the Botosani county the 16th among the Romania's counties, by water-to-land ratio.
Both the county and the municipality are mentioned for the first time in the historical documents in 1439. Despite this, the municipality of Botosani is much older than stated in such documents.
Its location on the trading routes of medieval Moldova connecting the European trading towns, made of the city of Botosani the administrative city ever since 1741, and also an important market for livestock and agricultural trading.
The extended water areas influenced the geological composition . Thhat is why Botosani county is rich in clay, bentonite and tuff deposits, formed by the springs rich in limestone (calcium oxide). The Prut river valley has limestone deposits. Other clays and shale can also be found in other areas of the county. There are also important peat deposits (in the Dersca area). Geological resources of Botosani county include high quality sands and limestone, andesite and sulphur. The county is also known for its parks and woods, mainly around the city of Botosani. Woods are located around Tudora, where there is also a yew tree reservation. Despite this, only 11.5% of the county's territory is covered with forests, a percentage maintained in 1996 and 2000, but lower than almost all the other counties of Romania. The largest share in the county's area belongs to the agricultural lands. These lands occupied 387 785 ha (77.8% of the total area) in 1996 and 392 728 ha (78.8% of the total area) at the end of 2000, thus making of the county of Botosani one of the most important agricultural counties in Romania.
Economy
The county's economy is dominated by agriculture. Arable lands represent 75.8% of the total agricultural area, and pastures and hays account for 22.9% . The production of grains was 293.9 thousand tons in 2000, as follows: 38 thousand tons of wheat and rye, and 238.5 thousand tons of corn. The sunflower production was 19.1 tons, 80.7 thousand tons of sugar beet and 95.6 thousand tons of potatoes.
At the end of 2000, there were 104.3 thousand cattle, 87.5 thousand pigs, 321.5 thousand sheep and goats and 2 150 thousand poultry. An important agricultural branch was animal breeding, Botosani county being the fourth at the end of 2000 by the number of sheep, and the seventh by the number of cattle among the counties of Romania. The first scientific research station was established in 1909 in Popauti for the improvement of the "Moldova grey steppe cows" and the sheep breeds. Karakul muttons were successfully mated with Turcana sheep breed and new hybrid breeds were obtained. The city of Botosani is fully dependent on combined agriculture. Between 1996 and 2000, the arable land was extended at the expense of the vineyard and orchard lands. The arable land increased from 291 578 ha in 1996 to 297 825 ha in 2000, and the areas with vineyards and orchards (including the breeding nurseries) decreased from 6 922 ha in 1996 to 4 994 ha in 2000. The areas covered by pastures and hays remained quite the same (over 89 000 ha).
In 2000 there were 3 409 active companies, more than 98% with with private capital. Of the total active companies, the industry accounted for 13.5%, while services for 77%.
The structure of the industrial production underwent major changes during the reference period. The share of the textile production in total industry increased, mainly due to qualified labour force and foreign investments. The food and beverage industry and non-metallic processing (glass, ceramics, porcelain, and bricks) use the local resources. Other significant branches of the county's economy include the chemical industry, synthetic and artificial fibres, machinery and electric devices, footwear, and textiles.
At the end of 2000, Botosani county had a railway network measuring 160 km, with a density of 32.1 km per 1 000 km2. The public road network had a total length of 2 108 km, with 418 km national roads. The density of public roads was 42.3 km per 100 km2 in 2000, as compared to 39.1 km per 100 km2 in 1996.
As of 31 July 2000 the accommodation capacity of tourist facilities included 1 664 places, as follows: 427 in hotels, 1 212 in school camps and 25 in chalets.
Population and social environment
By population, Botosani county was the 23rd in 2000 (ranked 26 in 1996), and by share, the county's population accounts for 2.1% of Romania's total population. As of 1 July 2000, the stable population of Botosani county was 463 808, which is 2 015 persons more as compared to 1 July 1996. The urban population decreased from 40.1% in 1996 to 39.3% in 2000, and the rural population increased from 59.9% in 1996 to 60.7% in 2000. Regarding the structure by gender, the population features a slightly feminine predominance (51% in 1996 and 50.9% in 2000). The young population (under 15 years) accounted for 22.2 % of the total population in 1996 and 21.2% in 2000, and the elder population (above 55 years) accounted for 26.1% of the total in 1996 and 25.4% in 2000.
The birth rate decreased from 1990 (16.7 per 1 000 inhabitants) to 1996 (12.6 per 1 000 inhabitants), with a slight increase in the following years, reaching 13.5 per 1 000 inhabitants in 2000. The mortality rate increased from 11 deaths per 1 000 inhabitants in 1990 to 14.3 deaths per 1 000 inhabitants in 1996 and decreased to 12.4 deaths per 1 000 inhabitants in 2000. Infant mortality (deaths of children under one year per 1 000 live births) also decreased from 30.5 per 1 000 live births in 1996 to 26.8 per 1 000 live births in 2000, and the urban area registered the biggest difference (from 27.4 to 19.9 per 1 000 live births). Between 1996 and 2000, the life expectancy increased from 67.7 years to 70 years on the average, from 63.6 to 66.2 for males and from 72.3 to 74 for females. It is worth mentioning that the life expectancy in 2000 was higher in the urban areas (71.5 years) compared to the rural areas (68.5 years).
In 2000, the marriage rate was 6 per 1 000 inhabitants, compared to 7 per 1 000 inhabitants in 1996; the divorce rate was 1.5 per 1 000 inhabitants in 2000, compared to 1.29 per 1 000 inhabitants in 1996.
The economic changes that happened after 1990 resulted in modifications in the structure of employed civilian population and number of employees by economic activities. At the end of 1996, there were 180.6 thousand employed civilians, and at the end of 2000, 175.5 thousand persons. The number of employees in total employed civilian population accounts for 34.1%, under the share registered in 1996 (44.4%). The income from salaries are quite low. With an average net monthly salary of 1 710.2 thousand lei, this county is 20.1% under the national average and 7.6% under the average of the North-East Region. The same economic changes resulted in an increase of the unemployment rate. At the end of 1996 were registered 21.2 thousand unemployed persons, and 35.1 thousand at the end of 2000. This corresponds to an unemployment rate of 10.5% in 1996 and 16.7% in 2000.
The educational activity took place in 761 units, including 357 kindergartens and 373 primary and secondary schools.
In 2000, the health system had 10 hospitals, 21 medical consulting centres, 67 pharmacies and 313 other types of units.
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