| Ilfov | |||
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| — County — | |||
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| Country | Romania | ||
| Development region | Bucureşti-Ilfov | ||
| Historic region | Muntenia | ||
| Area | |||
| • Total | 1,583 km2 (611.2 sq mi) | ||
| Area rank | 41st | ||
| Population (2002) | |||
| • Total | 300,123 | ||
| • Rank | 37th | ||
| • Density | 189.6/km2 (491/sq mi) | ||
| Telephone code | (+40) 21 or (+40) 31[1] | ||
| ISO 3166 code | RO-IF | ||
| Website | County Council Prefecture |
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Ilfov (Romanian pronunciation: [ˈilfov]) is the county that surrounds Bucharest, the capital of Romania. It used to be largely rural, but after the fall of communism, many of the county's villages and communes developed into high-income commuter towns, which act like suburbs or satellites of Bucharest. The gentrification of the county is continuing, with many towns in Ilfov, such as Otopeni, having some of the highest GDP per capita levels in the country.
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It has a population (excluding Bucharest) of 300,123. The population density is 188 per km². 40% of the population commutes and works in Bucharest, although in recent years, many industrial plants were built outside Bucharest, in Ilfov county. It has an annual growth of about 4%.
| Year | County population[3] |
|---|---|
| 1948 | 167,533 |
| 1956 | 196,265 |
| 1966 | 229,773 |
| 1977 | 287,738 |
| 1992 | 286,965 |
| 2002 | 300,123 |
The county has an area of 1,583 km² and it is situated in the Romanian Plain between the Argeş River and the Ialomiţa River.
The main rivers that pass through the county are: Dâmboviţa River, Colentina River and Gruiu River. Several lakes can be found in Ilfov county, notably Cernica, Snagov Lake and Căldăruşani Lake.
The base occupation used to be the agriculture. Nowadays, due to the economical growth in Bucharest, many companies have opened their offices, production facilities or warehouses in the nearby villages, situated in the Ilfov County, thus making it the most developed county in Romania.
The predominant industries in the county are:
At Otopeni there is the main aerial transport hub in Romania - the Henri Coandă International Airport. Also all the main roads and railways leaving Bucharest pass through the county.
The county has a large surface covered with forests and also due to its lakes, it is a frequent week-end and holiday destinations for the inhabitants of Bucharest.
Other notable touristic sites are:
Most of today's Ilfov County used to be covered by Codrii Vlăsiei, a thick forest, but there were several Dacian settlements, most important being Argedava, on the right bank of the Argeş River in what is now Popeşti, which was the capital of king Burebista.
The thick forests were useful for retreat during the migration age because they were not easy to cross on horseback. In fact, the name of the forest means "the Forests of the Vlachs" (Romanians), a name given by the Slavs who inhabited the nearby plains.
The county was named after the Ilfov River and it is of Slavic origin, being composed from "Ilf" (a name?) and suffix "-ov" and it appears for the first time in a 1482 donation act of voivode Vlad Călugărul to the monastery of Snagov.
The county has 8 towns and 32 communes.
There were serious debates about the city level awarded to Voluntari, as it is alleged that it was given in regard to the city's political affiliation, rather than population, development or any other objective features. Despite this, Voluntari does have a population of 30,000, and many other localities with this population have been given city-status in the past.
Before 1972, it used to be one of the largest counties of Romania, but parts of it were added to neighbouring counties and nowadays it is the smallest (excluding the city of Bucharest, which has a special status). Between 1981 and 1997, it was called "Sectorul Agricol Ilfov" and it was not a separate county, but subordinate to the capital.
Ilfov County is the only county that has its capital outside of its territorial area, in Bucharest which is not part of the actual county. Initially, immediately after the 1968 reform of the public administration in communist Romania, Ilfov was a larger county, that comprised its present-day territory, the entire Giurgiu County, Bucharest and the western parts of Călăraşi and Ialomiţa counties. Later during the communist period, its te4ritory was reduced to its current size and it became one of the sectors of Bucharest. It became again a county in 1997, when its capital was designated to be Bucharest.[4][5] However, in 2005, some plans were proposed that would merge Bucharest with 90 other communes located to up to 40 km outside the city, in Ilfov County and other nearby counties into a "metropolitan area" of Bucharest.[6] As of 2011, these plans have not come true, while a debate on the general administrative division of Romania was under way.
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