NEAMT COUNTY - Geography and history
Neamt county is located in the central-eastern part of Romania and partially covers the Eastern Sub-Carpathians, Moldova Sub-Carpathians and the Moldova Plateau. Its area is 5 896 km2, representing 2.5% of the Romanian territory. The administrative organisation, as of 31 December 2000, was as follows: 2 municipalities and 2 towns, 70 communes and 347 villages.
Its neighbours are the county of Suceava to the north, the counties of Vaslui and Iasi to the east, Bacau county to the south, and Harghita county to the west. The county's capital city is Piatra Neamt.
The main forms of geography descend from west to east - 1 907 m at Ocolasul Mare in the Ceahlau Mountains and 180 m in the meadow of the Siret river. Mountains represent the main topographical type (51% of the county's area).
The sub-carpathian unit, located in the east of the mountainous area, includes the depressions of Neamt and Cracau - Bistrita and a part of the Tazlau depression (which continues on the territory of Bacau county).
The plateau zone is located in the east of the Sub-Carpathians.
The main waterway is the Bistrita river with a length of 118.0 km within the county limits, followed by the Moldova (70.0 km), Cracau (58.0 km), Ozana (54.0 km), and Siret (42.1 km)rivers. Underground waters account for 15-30%, and waters resulting from melting snow represent 30-40%.
All lakes are man-made and meant for various purposes (power production, flood prevention, irrigations, fishery, water reserves, and leisure). By its area (3 120 ha) and volume (cca. 1 230 million m3 gross value), the Izvoru Muntelui Lake near the city of Bicaz is the most important.
The county's climate, resembling that of entire Romania, is temperate-continental, with characteristics determined by the distribution of geography.
Featuring an assorted natural environment that provides with easy connections between the mountain, the sub-Carpathian and the plain area, the county's territory was populated since ancient times. Archaeological discoveries go back to the upper Palaeolithic period and indicate an intense population in the area.
A particular moment in the historical evolution of these lands is represented by the most outstanding prehistoric civilisation of Europe - the complex of Precucuteni - Cucuteni - Tripolie (approximately 4200 - 2600 B.C.), which originated in this region.
The Dacian citadels of Piatra Soimului, Cozla and especially Bâtca Doamnei, with their stone walls and sanctuaries, prove that this was the location of the Dacian settlement of Petrodava, also located in this region by the ancient geographer Ptolemy in the second century AD.
The Neamt stronghold built by voivode Petru I Musat and reinforced by voivode Stephen the Great, together with the Roman stronghold built by voivode Roman I, during the 14th century, the ruler's court in Piatra Neamt built by Stephen the Great during the second half of the 15th century, are only a few places showing the existence of some important economic, political and military centres within the nowadays county of Neamt.
The subsoil of the county of Neamt includes important mineral deposits such as: poly-metallic sulphurs in the crystalline slate area; mineral fuels in the flysch and platform structure; blackstone in the paleogenous flysch region; gem salt and potassium salts in the Miocene deposits in the Sub-Carpathian region; sulphur mineral waters (Damuc), sparkling mineral waters (Tosorog, Zanogeni, Bistra, Pintec, and Valea Borca); gravels in the principal valleys, etc.
Economy
The economic profile of Neamt county is determined by both the harmony of the geography and the diversity of natural resources.
The power potential of the rivers, vast forested areas, natural pastures and hays, the richness and diversity of construction materials in the mountain area, good agricultural lands in the eastern part of the county, represent important resources that all bring their contribution to the balanced economic structure of the county.
In 2000, the total number of companies was 5 748, more than 99% having with private capital. Considering the main activity, industry accounted for 25.5%, while services represented 67%.
The county's industry is characterised by multiple branches of national importance. Power production is represented by the "Dimitrie Leonida" plant at Stejaru and other small plants downstream of the Bistrita river, with a total power of 344 MW.
The metallurgic industry produces seamless steel pipes for both domestic and foreign market. The machine building industry produces lathes, wood processing equipment and machines, and agricultural machines. The chemical industry mainly produces synthetic fibres and chemical fertilisers. The construction materials produced are cement, limestone, ceramic bricks and blocks, and sanitary ware. The wood processing industry, helped by the rich wood resources, includes all processing phases, from timber to furniture. The cellulose, paper and cardboard industry is represented by two companies with a tradition older than 100 years. The light and food industries are also well represented in the county.
Concerning agriculture, at the end of 2000, the agricultural area accounted for 48.1% of the county's area. The county's agriculture contributed 2.6% in the national production in 2000. The main crops are wheat and rye, corn, potatoes and sugar beet. As for the sugar beet and potatoes, the average productions per hectare were higher in 2000 than the national figures, by 21.8% and 28.7% respectively.
Forests and other forested lands totalled 260 462 ha in 2000, representing 44.2% of the county's total area.
Large pastures and hays helped the development of livestock. At the end of 2000, Neamt county had an important share in the total livestock of Romania, mainly for cattle (3.5%) and sheep (2.6%).
At the end of 2000, the county was crossed by a 136 km long railway network, with a railway density of only 23.1 km per 1 000 km2 of territory (under the national average). Public roads totalled 1 810 km, of which 25% modernised, which means 30.7 km of public roads per 100 km2 of territory.
Due to the geographic position, assorted natural conditions, worldwide known historical monuments, as well as to the people's hospitality, tourism in this county is well developed.
The accommodation capacity of the county as of 31 July 2000 was 2 929 places, with 1 401 places in hotels and motels.
Population and social environment
The stable population of Neamt county was 586 229 as of 1 July 2000, representing 2.6% of Romania's population.
The county's population density of 99.4 inhabitants/km2 is over the national average. Of the county's total, 40.3% of the population lives in the urban area and 59.7% in the rural area, thus the county's urbanisation degree is quite low compared to the national level (54.6%).
The population structure by gender shows that females account for 50.6% of the county's total population, and the gender ratio is 1 024 females for 1 000 males.
The population distribution by age groups, as of 1 July 2000, shows that persons aged 60 and above represent 18.8%. Although decreasing during the recent years, the natural population growth was positive, the birth rate being 11.5 per 1 000 inhabitants in 2000, and the mortality rate 10.4 deaths per 1 000 inhabitants. Infant mortality is still high: 23.9 deaths in children under one year per 1 000 live births, comparared to 18.6 per 1 000 live births nationwide. Between 1998 and 2000 the life expectancy was 67.16 years for males and 74.33 years for females, close to the figures for the entire country.
The reduction of the activity in some economic fields during the last decade resulted in the reduction of employed population and consequently in the increase of unemployed and inactive population. Compared to 1996, the employed civil population of 2000 decreased by 5.1%, while unemployment increased by 25.4%. The share of employed population in the total population was of 37.9% in 2000, and the overall employment rate was 1.3 points lower than in 1996.
The county of Neamt has a high unemployment rate, much above the national rate. At the end of 2000, the unemployment rate was 16.6%, compared to 10.5% for the entire country.
The children in the pre-school education account for 14.5%, the children in the primary and secondary schools represent 61.7%, those in the high schools 14.5% and those in vocational and apprentice schools 7.5%. 1.5% are enrolled in post-high-school units and 0.3% were students.
Regarding health services, at the end of 2000 the health system included 5 hospitals, 2 health centres, 14 nurseries, 16 medical consultation centres, 9 pharmacies and drugstores. Hospitals and health centres had 3 150 beds, with 5.4 beds per 1 000 inhabitants.
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