According to the 2000 Census, there are approximately 2200 ethnic Romanians living in the city of Philadelphia. The first major wave of Romanian immigration to the United States took place between 1895 and 1920, during which 145,000 Romanians entered the country where the majority hailed from the regions of Wallachia and Moldavia. As Philadelphia was one of the premier industrial giants in the world during the early part of this century, many Romanians settled in the City of Brotherly Love.
Many factors affected Romanian immigration to the United States since the first wave of immigrants to enter the United States. The first major influence on overall immigration was the Great Depression. With the loss of jobs in Romania, many ethnic Romanians were forced to look elsewhere to live. The hope of financial security in the U.S. led many to immigrate to this country. The second major influence on Romanian immigration to the United States was the downfall of communism. According to the Romanian-American Network, Inc., "the elimination of communist travel restrictions, the desire of thousands of people to be reunited with their American relatives and friends, and the precarious economic conditions in the new Romania were powerful incentives to come to America for a new start in life."
The following websites offer some further information on Romanian-Americans:
Congress of Romanian-Americans
http://www.romanianamericans.org/

Romanian-American League
http://www.roembus.org/english/communities/Romanian_american_organizations.htm


"Recent Trends in Immigration to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania" by Fels Institute of Government at Univeristy of Penn
http://www.sas.upenn.edu/fels/philapopulation.htm
This document contains a brief history of the immigration patterns of this population in Philadelphia, why this population came here, and what parts of the city they live in now.


The World Fact Book
http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html
This CIA website contains an extremely large amount of information about all of the countries in the world such as: history, geography, information about its citizens, government, economy, transnational issues, and more. To find out information about this country, pull it down from the menu.