| Type: | municipality |
| County: | Harghita |
| Official Name: | Gheorgheni |
| Other Name: | Gyergyószentmiklós |
| Leader Name: | Tibor Csergő[1] |
| Leader Party: | UDMR |
| Term: | 2020–2024 |
| Coordinates: | 46.72°N 25.59°W |
| Elevation: | 816 |
| Area Total: | 90.17 |
| Population Total: | auto |
| Postal Code: | 535500 |
| Area Code: | (+40) 02 66 |
Gheorgheni (in Romanian; Moldavian; Moldovan pronounced as /ɡe̯orˈɡenʲ/; Hungarian: Gyergyószentmiklós in Hungarian pronounced as /ˈɟɛrɟoːsɛntmikloːʃ/) is a municipality in Harghita County, Romania, with a population of 15,844, as of 2021. It lies in the Székely Land, an ethno-cultural region in eastern Transylvania. The city administers four villages: Covacipeter (Kovácspéter), Lacu Roșu (Gyilkostó), Vargatac (Vargatag), and Visafolio (Visszafolyó).
The city is located in the northeastern part of Harghita County, north of the county seat, Miercurea Ciuc. It is situated in a mountainous region, at an altitude of, and it is crossed east to west by the river Belcina, a right tributary of the river Mureș. Nearby are two natural sites, the Red Lake and Cheile Bicazului, a narrow canyon through the Eastern Carpathian Mountains forming the border with Neamț County.
Gheorgheni historically formed part of the Székely Land region of Transylvania. It was first mentioned in 1332. It belonged to the Kingdom of Hungary with several interruptions, the Eastern Hungarian Kingdom and the Principality of Transylvania, administratively the town belonged to Gyergyószék. Between 1867 and 1918 it fell within Csík County, in the Kingdom of Hungary.
In the aftermath of World War I, the Union of Transylvania with Romania was declared in December 1918. At the start of the Hungarian–Romanian War of 1918–1919, the town passed under Romanian administration. After the Treaty of Trianon of 1920, it became part of the Kingdom of Romania and fell within Ciuc County. In 1940, the Second Vienna Award granted Northern Transylvania to Hungary. Towards the end of World War II, Romanian and Soviet armies entered the town in October 1944. The territory of Northern Transylvania remained under Soviet military administration until March 9, 1945, after which it again became part of Romania. Between 1952 and 1960, Gheorgheni was part of the Magyar Autonomous Region, and between 1960 and 1968 part of the Mureș-Magyar Autonomous Region. After the administrative reform of 1968, the region was abolished, and since then, the city has been part of Harghita County.
At the 2021 census, Gheorgheni had a population of 15,884.[2] At the 2011 census, the city had a population of 17,705, of which 86.13% (15,250) were Hungarians and 1,988 (11.22%) Romanians.
Demographic movement according to the censuses:
ImageSize = width:380 height:260PlotArea = left:50 bottom:50 top:30 right:30DateFormat = x.yPeriod = from:0 till:25000TimeAxis = orientation:verticalAlignBars = justifyScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:5000 start:0ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:1000 start:0BackgroundColors = canvas:sfondo
BarData= bar:1910 text:1910 bar:1930 text:1930 bar:1948 text:1948 bar:1956 text:1956 bar:1966 text:1966 bar:1977 text:1977 bar:1992 text:1992 bar:2002 text:2002 bar:2011 text:2011 bar:2021 text:2021
PlotData= color:barra width:20 align:left
bar:1910 from:0 till: 8905 bar:1930 from:0 till: 10355 bar:1948 from:0 till: 10031 bar:1956 from:0 till: 11969 bar:1966 from:0 till: 13828 bar:1977 from:0 till: 17739 bar:1992 from:0 till: 21433 bar:2002 from:0 till: 20018 bar:2011 from:0 till: 17705 bar:2021 from:0 till: 15884
PlotData= bar:1910 at: 8905 fontsize:S text: 8.905 shift:(-7,5) bar:1930 at: 10355 fontsize:S text: 10.355 shift:(-11,5) bar:1948 at: 10031 fontsize:S text: 10.031 shift:(-11,5) bar:1956 at: 11969 fontsize:S text: 11.969 shift:(-15,5) bar:1966 at: 13828 fontsize:S text: 13.828 shift:(-15,5) bar:1977 at: 17739 fontsize:S text: 17.739 shift:(-15,5) bar:1992 at: 21433 fontsize:S text: 21.433 shift:(-15,5) bar:2002 at: 20018 fontsize:S text: 20.018 shift:(-15,5) bar:2011 at: 17705 fontsize:S text: 17.705 shift:(-15,5) bar:2021 at: 15884 fontsize:S text: 15.884 shift:(-15,5)TextData= fontsize:S pos:(20,20) text:From Romanian Wikipedia and Census data.
For Armenian Catholics, see Ordinariate for Armenian Catholics of Romania.
The town council has 19 members as follows:
| Party | Seats | Current Council | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hungarian Civic Party (PCM/MPP) | 10 | |||||||||||||
| Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR/RMDSZ) | 6 | |||||||||||||
| Independent politician | 2 | |||||||||||||
| National Liberal Party (PNL) | 1 | |||||||||||||