Bihor County

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Bihor (Template:IPA2), in Hungarian: Bihar (Template:IPA2), is a county (judeţ) of Romania, in Crişana, with capital city at Oradea.

1 Demographics
- 1.1 By religion
2 Geography
- 2.1 Neighbours
3 Economy
4 Tourism
5 Administrative divisions
6 References
7 Links

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Demographics

In 2002, Bihor had a population of 600,223 and the population density was 79.56/km². 48.6% of its population lives in urban areas, lower than the Romanian average.

Romanians - 67.60%<ref>National Institute of Statistics, "Populaţia după etnie"</ref>
Hungarians - 26%
Roma - 5.00%
Slovaks - 1.2%
Germans - 0.2%

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By religion

99.4% of the county's population are Christian<ref>Romania and Bihor County Census, 2002, Template:Hu icon [1]</ref> and of these:

Romanian Orthodox - 59.7%
Reformed - 18.1%;
Catholic - 11.5% (Roman Catholic - 9.2%; Greek Catholic - 2.3%)
Pentecostal - 5.7%;
Baptist - 3.7%;
Adventist - 0.3%;

Year	County population<ref>National Institute of Statistics, "Populaţia la recensămintele din anii 1948, 1956, 1966, 1977, 1992 şi 2002"</ref>
1948	536,323
1956	574,488
1966	586,460
1977	633,094
1992	638,863
2002	600,246

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Geography

This county has a total area of 7,544 km². In the East side of the County there are the Apuseni Mountains with heights up to 1,800 m. The heights decrease westwards, passing through the hills an ending in the Romanian Western Plain - the eastern side of the Pannonian plain.

The county is mainly the Criş hydrographic basine with the rivers Crişul Repede, Crişul Negru and Barcău the main rivers.

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Neighbours

Template:Romanian counties map

Sălaj County, Cluj County and Alba County in the East.
Hungary in the West - Hajdú-Bihar County.
Satu Mare County in the North.
Arad County in the South.

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Economy

Bihor is one of the wealthiest counties in Romania, with a GDP per capita well above the national average. Recently, the economy has been driven by a number of construction projects. Bihor has the lowest unemployment rate in Romania and among the lowest in Europe, with only 2.4% unemployment, compared to Romania's average of 5.1%. In 2003, 25.1% of the population lived below the national poverty line, a figure which is improving and is set to reach 20% in 2005.

The predominant industries in the county are:

Textile industry.
Food and beverages industry.
Mechanical components industry.
Metallurgy.

In the west side of the county there are mines for extracting coal and bauxite. Also crude oil is being extracted

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Tourism

The main tourist attractions in the county are:

The city of Oradea.
The Apuseni Mountains:
- The Stâna de Vale Resort and the Iada valley.
- The Caves around Padiş and on the Sighiştel River Valley.
- The Bear's Cave.
Băile Felix Resort.