Timișoara (UK: /ˌtɪmɪˈʃwɑːrə/, US: /ˌtiːmiː-/, Romanian: [timiˈʃo̯ara] ; German: Temeswar [ˈtɛmɛʃvaːɐ̯] , also Temeschwar or Temeschburg; Hungarian: Temesvár [ˈtɛmɛʃvaːr] ; Serbian: Темишвар, romanized: Temišvar [těmiʃʋaːr]; see other names) is the capital city of Timiș County, Banat, and the main economic, social and cultural centre in Western Romania. Located on the Bega River, Timișoara is considered the informal capital city of the historical Banat region. From 1848 to 1860 it was the capital of the Serbian Vojvodina and the Voivodeship of Serbia and Banat of Temeschwar. With 250,849 inhabitants at the 2021 census, Timișoara is the country's fifth most populous city. It is home to around 400,000 inhabitants in its metropolitan area, while the Timișoara–Arad metropolis concentrates more than 70% of the population of Timiș and Arad counties. Timișoara is a multicultural city, home to 21 ethnic groups and 18 religious denominations. Historically, the most numerous were the Swabian Germans, Jews and Hungarians, who still make up 6% of the population here.

Conquered in 1716 by the Austrians from the Ottoman Turks, Timișoara developed in the following centuries behind the fortifications and in the urban nuclei located around them. During the second half of the 19th century, the fortress began to lose its usefulness, due to many developments in military technology. Former bastions and military spaces were demolished and replaced with new boulevards and neighbourhoods. Timișoara was the first city in the Habsburg monarchy with street lighting (1760) and the first European city to be lit by electric street lamps in 1884. It opened the first public lending library in the Habsburg monarchy and built a municipal hospital 24 years ahead of Vienna. Also, it published the first German newspaper in Southeast Europe (Temeswarer Nachrichten). In December 1989, Timișoara was the starting point of the Romanian Revolution.

Timișoara is one of the most important educational centres in Romania, with about 40,000 students enrolled in the city's six universities. Like many other large cities in Romania, Timișoara is a medical tourism service provider, especially for dental care and cosmetic surgery. Several breakthroughs in Romanian medicine have been achieved in Timișoara, including the first in vitro fertilization, the first laser heart surgery and the first stem cell transplant. As a technology hub, the city has one of the most powerful IT sectors in Romania alongside Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca, Iași, and Brașov. In 2013, Timișoara had the fastest internet download speed in the world.

Nicknamed the "Little Vienna" or the "City of Roses", Timișoara is noted for its large number of historical monuments and its 36 parks and green spaces. The spa resorts Buziaș and Băile Călacea are located at a distance of 30 and 27 km from the city, respectively, mentioned since Roman times for the properties of healing waters. Along with Oradea, Timișoara is part of the Art Nouveau European Route. It is also a member of Eurocities. Timișoara has an active cultural scene due to the city's three state theatres, opera, philharmonic and many other cultural institutions. In 2016, Timișoara was the first Romanian Youth Capital, and in 2023 it held the title of European Capital of Culture, along with the cities of Veszprém in Hungary and Elefsina in Greece.

The Hungarian name of the city, Temesvár, was first recorded as Temeswar in 1315. It refers to a castle (vár) on the Timiș River (Temes). Timiș belongs to the family of hydronyms derived from the Indo-European radical thib "swamp". The Romanian and German oikonyms (Timișoara and Temeschburg, respectively) derived from the Hungarian form. The Habsburg/Austrian authorities also used Temeschwar or Temeswar, names that have become commonplace in current usage. The name of the city comes from the river which passes the city, Timișul Mic (German: Kleine Temesch; Hungarian: Kistemes), hydronym which was in use until the 18th century when it was changed to Bega or Beghei.

The southeastern part of the Pannonian Plain is bounded by the Mureș, the Tisza and the Danube; the region was very fertile and already offered favourable conditions for food and human livelihood in 4000 BC. Archeological remains attested the presence of a population of farmers, hunters and artisans, whose existence was favoured by mild climate, fertile soil and abundant water and forests.

The first identifiable civilisation in Banat were the Dacians who left traces of their past. Several Romanian historians have advanced the idea that the current location of Timișoara corresponds to the Dacian settlement of Zurobara. Although its location is unknown, the coordinates given by geographer Ptolemy in Geographike Hyphegesis place it in the northwest of Banat.

It is assumed that in the 9th century Knyaz Glad ruled over these lands, accepting Hungarian sovereignty, though no contemporary accounts exist. Timișoara was first officially mentioned in 1212 as the Roman castrum Temesiensis or castrum regium Themes. This year is disputed by historians of the opinion that the city's first documentary mention comes from 1266, when heir apparent Stephen V of Hungary donates part of the Tymes fortress, built by his father, Béla IV, to Count Parabuch. The city was destroyed by the Tatars in the 13th century, but the city was rebuilt and grew considerably during the reign of Charles I of Hungary, who, upon his visit there in 1307, ordered the strengthening of the fortress with stone walls and the building of a royal palace. The palace was built by Italian craftsmen and was organised around a rectangular court having a main body provided with a dungeon or a tower. He even moved the royal seat from Buda to Timișoara between 1316 and 1323. Timișoara's importance also grew due to its strategic location, which facilitated control over the Banat plain.

By the middle of the 14th century, Timișoara was at the forefront of Western Christendom's battle against the Muslim Ottoman Turks. In 1394, the Turks led by Bayezid I passed Nagybecskerek (present-day Zrenjanin) and Timișoara on their way to Wallachia where they were defeated by Voivode Mircea the Elder in the battle of Rovine. Timișoara once again served as a concentration point for the Christian armed forces, this time for the battle of Nicopolis. After the Christians' defeat, the Ottomans devastated Banat to Timișoara, from where they were expelled by Count István Losonczy. Appointed Count of Timiș in 1440, John Hunyadi moved with his family to Timișoara, which he would turn into a permanent military camp. John Hunyadi would come to be known throughout the region for his victory in Belgrade over the Ottomans, considered at that time a defender of Christianity. An important event in the city's history was the peasant uprising led by György Dózsa. On 10 August 1514 he tried to change the course of Bega River to be able to enter more easily into the city, but he was defeated by attacks from both inside and outside the city.

The fall of Belgrade in 1521 and the defeat at Mohács in 1526 caused the division of the Hungarian Kingdom in three parts, and Banat became the object of contention between the Habsburg Kingdom of Hungary and Ottomans. After a failed siege in 1551, the Turks regrouped and returned with a new strategy. On 22 April 1552, a 160,000-strong army led by Kara Ahmed Pasha conquered the city and transformed it into a capital city in the region (Eyalet of Temeşvar). The local military commander, István Losonczy, and other Christians were massacred on 27 July 1552 while escaping the city through the Azapilor Gate. After the death of John Zápolya, Habsburgs tried to obtain Transylvania and Banat, including Timișoara, with mixed results; Transylvania even entered into dual vassalage for a time.

Timișoara remained under the Ottoman rule for 164 years, controlled directly by the Sultan and enjoying a special status, similar to other cities in the region, such as Budapest and Belgrade. During this period, Timișoara was home to a large Islamic community and produced famous historical figures, such as Osman Ağa of Temeşvar.

Except for a period in the late 16th century, the city did not suffer sieges until the end of the 17th century. In 1594, Gregory Palotić, Ban of Lugos and Karánsebes, started an anti-Ottoman uprising in Banat, with its starting point in Nagybecskerek. Following a strong Transylvanian offensive led by György Borbély, the Christian army conquered several towns, but Timișoara remained untouched. Another attempt to retake the city took place in 1596, when an army of Sigismund Báthory began the siege of the city. After 40 days of futile efforts, the besiegers drew back.

After the victory at Petrovaradin on 5 August 1716, the Austrian army led by Prince Eugene of Savoy decided to conquer Timișoara. The Ottoman military, the kuruc and the Turkish civilian population were forced to leave the city after a 48-day siege marked by repeated bombings that destroyed much of the city's buildings. After the Treaty of Passarowitz (1718), the Banat of Temeswar became the province of the Habsburg monarchy and was proclaimed "possession of the Crown" with a military administration which ruled Timișoara until 1751 when it was replaced by a civil one.

After the conquest of Banat, the imperial authorities in Vienna began an extensive process of colonization, inviting especially German Catholics from Württemberg, Swabia, Nassau, etc. who would become known as Banat Swabians. In Timișoara, the Swabians settled mainly in Fabric, where they strongly developed craftsmanship. The main function of Timișoara during this period was that of a military fortress. The existing fortifications could not cope with the new military techniques, so the entire fortress was rebuilt in a late, flat and inconsistent adaptation of the Vauban style. It had an area 10 times larger than the medieval Turkish fortress. Between 1728 and 1732, Bega River was regulated, creating a navigable canal.

Under the political pressure of the Hungarian Diet, the Viennese Imperial Court accepted that the three counties of Banat to be reincorporated into the Hungarian Kingdom, in 1779. In 1781 Joseph II declared Timișoara free from the county authority and, to prevent the nobles from interfering with the administration of the city, he raised it to the rank of a "free royal city". This status would secure Timișoara's internal self-government, the right to have representatives in the Diet and that of disposing its own revenues. The city was under siege in 1848 for 107 days. The Hungarians unsuccessfully tried to capture the fortress in the battle of Temesvár. It was the last major battle in the Hungarian Revolution of 1848. By the March Constitution, the region was incorporated to the Voivodeship of Serbia and Banat of Temeschwar, which became a crownland of the Austrian Empire. The new imperial province, the existence of which had also been consecrated by the imperial decree of 18 November 1849, was ruled both militarily and civilly, and the official languages were German and "Illyrian" (what would come to be known as Serbo-Croatian). Timișoara was designated as the residence of the governor, and the city maintained its privileges as a free royal city.

In 1860, the Voivodeship of Serbia and Banat of Temeschwar was abolished and most of its territory was incorporated into the Habsburg Kingdom of Hungary, although direct Hungarian rule began only following the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867, after the establishment of the dual monarchy. As part of Austria-Hungary, the city experienced a fast economic and demographic growth. Credit institutions invested large sums in the development of local industry; at the turn of the 20th century there were many enterprises here: two breweries, an iron foundry, a match factory, a brick factory, a gas factory, a chain factory, a hat factory, a chocolate factory, etc. In this period horse-drawn tram, telephone and street lighting were introduced and roads were paved.

In 1892, Emperor Franz Joseph I decided to abolish the fortress status of Timișoara. The demolition of the fortifications began in 1899. The main functions of the city thus became the economic ones, especially the commercial and banking ones.

On 31 October 1918, local military and political elites established the Banat National Council, together with representatives of the region's main ethnic groups: Germans, Hungarians, Serbs and Romanians. On 1 November they proclaimed the short-lived Banat Republic. In the aftermath of World War I, the Banat region was divided between the Kingdom of Romania and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, and Timișoara came under Romanian administration after Serbian occupation between 1918 and 1919. The city was ceded from Hungary to Romania by the Treaty of Trianon on 4 June 1920. In 1920, King Ferdinand I awarded Timișoara the status of a University Centre, and the interwar years saw continuous economic and cultural development. A number of anti-fascist and anti-revisionist demonstrations also took place during this time.

During World War II, Timișoara suffered damage from both Allied and Axis bombing raids, especially during the second half of 1944. On 23 August 1944, Romania, which until then was a member of the Axis, declared war on Nazi Germany and joined the Allies. The German and Hungarian troops attempted to take the city by force throughout September, but without success.

After the war, the People's Republic of Romania was proclaimed, and Timișoara underwent Sovietisation and, later, Systematisation. The city's population tripled between 1948 and 1992. Timișoara became highly industrialised both through new investments and by increasing the capacities of the old enterprises in various industries: machine building, textile and footwear, electrical, food, plastics, optical, building materials, furniture, etc.

In December 1989, Timișoara witnessed a series of mass street protests in what was to become the Romanian Revolution. On 20 December, three days after bloodshed began there, Timișoara was declared the first city free of Communism in Romania.

Timișoara is located at the intersection of the 45th parallel north with the 21st meridian east. As a mathematical position, it is in the northern hemisphere, almost equally distant from the north pole and the equator, and in the eastern hemisphere, using Central European Time. The local time of the city (considered after the meridian) is 1 h 25' 8" ahead of the Greenwich Mean Time, but it is 34' 52" behind the official time of Romania (Eastern European Time).

Timișoara lies at an altitude of 90 metres on the southeast edge of the Banat Plain, part of the Pannonian Plain, near the divergence of the Timiș and Bega rivers. The waters of the two rivers form a swampy and frequently flooded land. Timișoara developed on one of few places where the swamps could be crossed. These constituted a natural protection around the fortress for a very long time and favored a wet and insalubrious climate, which spread plague and cholera and kept the number of inhabitants relatively low, preventing civic development. With time, these rivers were drained, dammed and diverted. Due to the hydrographical projects undertaken in the 18th century, the city no longer lies on the Timiș River, but on the Bega Canal. This improvement of the land was made irreversible by building the Bega Canal (started in 1728) and by the complete draining of the surrounding marshes. The city lies only 0.5 to 5 metres above the water table, which disallows the construction of tall buildings. The rich black soil and relatively high water table make this a fertile agricultural region.

Taken as a whole, the relief of Timișoara appears as a relatively flat, monotonous surface, the smoothness of the surface interrupted only by the Bega riverbed. Researched in detail, the relief of the city and its surroundings presents a series of local peculiarities, represented mainly by deserted meanders, micro-depressions and ridges (generally made of coarse materials). These are the result of the deposits in the area of the Timiș and Bega rivers, before their drainage, regularization and damming (concretized altimetrically by modest bumps, which do not exceed anywhere, the interval of 2–3 m).

Timișoara is a fairly active seismic center, but of the many earthquakes observed, few have exceeded magnitude 6 on the Richter scale. There are two active seismic faults that cross the western part of the city. The earthquakes recorded in the region are normal earthquakes, of crustal type, with depths of foci between 5 and 30 km (3.1 and 18.6 mi).

In the past, there were extensive oak forests between the Tisza and Timiș. Over time, they were cleared to obtain the wood needed to build the fortress and houses, as well as to gain arable land. Today, except for the areas forested with Turkey oak and Hungarian oak (Green Forest, Bistra Forest, Timișeni–Șag Forest), the territory falls within the anthropogenic forest steppe that characterizes the entire Pannonian Basin. The landscape is diversified by meadow vegetation, along the main rivers, in which softwood trees predominate: willows, poplars, alders. Within the city limits is the Green Forest (Romanian: Pădurea Verde), a forest massif with an area of about 724 ha (1,790 acres), systematically arranged in squares of 15 ha (37 acres). The forest is man-made; first organization plans were carried out in 1860 by the Hungarian Forest Service. About 20 km (12 mi) southeast of Timișoara is the Bazoș Dendrological Park, a forest reserve which since 1994 has the status of protected area. The first trees of the reserve were brought in 1909 from the Harvard University nursery. Today, the reserve includes 800 different species of trees and shrubs and is part of the International Association of Botanical Gardens.

The fauna of Timișoara includes few mammals, represented only by a few insectivores and rodents. The birds, on the other hand, are numerous, some of which are of hunting importance (the pheasant). The urban wildlife, although less varied than the forest wildlife, has a higher number of species of hunting interest (rabbit, deer, quail, partridge, pheasant, hedgehog, etc.) and reptiles. In the parks of Timișoara there are hedgehogs, moles, tree frogs and a lot of birds. Regarding the piscifauna, the dominant species is the carp, along with which live breams, bleaks, roaches, zieges, pikes, natural support for sport fishing. Timișoara used to have the only zoo in western Romania, Timișoara Zoological Garden, but it was closed.

The main watercourse is the Bega River, the southernmost tributary of the Tisza. Springing from the Poiana Ruscă Mountains, Bega is canalized, and from Timișoara to its outflow it was arranged for navigation (115 km [71 mi]). The Bega Canal was built between 1728 and 1760, but its final arrangement was made later. The Bega Canal was designed for the access of barges of 600–700 tons and an annual transport capacity of three million wagons.

From the multitude of arms that existed before the canalization of Bega, only Bega Moartă (Dead Bega; in the Fabric neighborhood) and Bega Veche (Old Bega; to the west, flowing through Săcălaz) are preserved inside the city.

In addition to permanent courses and those that dry out, often during the summer, on the territory of Timișoara there are a number of lakes: either natural, formed instead of the old meanders or subsidence areas, such as those near Kuncz, Giroc, Pădurea Verde, etc., or of anthropic origin, such as those from Fratelia, Freidorf, Ciarda Roșie, Ștrandul Tineretului, etc.

Like parts of Romania, Timișoara exhibits a transitional humid continental (Köppen: Dfb) and humid subtropical climate (Köppen: Cfa), characteristic of the southeastern part of the Pannonian Basin, with some sub-Mediterranean influences.

The dominant air masses, during spring and summer, are the temperate ones, of oceanic origin, which bring significant precipitations. Frequently, even in winter, humid air masses arrive from the Atlantic, bringing significant rains and snows, less often cold waves. From September to February there are frequent penetrations of continental polar air masses, coming from the east. In Banat, the influence of cyclones and hot air masses from the Adriatic Sea and the Mediterranean Sea is also strongly felt, which in winter generate complete thawing and in summer impose periods of stifling heat.

The average annual temperature was 11.8 °C (53.2 °F) between 1991 and 2020. The warmest month, on average, is July with an average temperature of 22.7 °C (72.9 °F). The coolest month on average is January, with an average temperature of 1.0 °C (33.8 °F). The lowest temperature recorded in Timișoara was −35.3 °C (−31.5 °F), on 24 January 1963, while the highest temperature was 42 °C (108 °F), recorded in August 2017. The average number of frost days (with minimum temperatures below 0 °C [32 °F]) is 80, and the average number of winter days (with maximum temperatures below 0 °C) is 17. The average number of tropical days (with maximum temperatures above 30 °C [86 °F]) is 45.

Predominantly under the influence of the maritime air masses from the northwest, Timișoara receives a higher amount of precipitation than the cities in the Wallachian Plain. The average amount of precipitation for the year in Timișoara is 604.4 mm (23.80 in), falling on 87 days. The month with the most precipitation on average is June with 80.8 mm of precipitation. The month with the least precipitation on average is February with an average of 34.2 mm (1.35 in).

Historical population

Year	Pop.	±%
1787	9,479	—
1847	18,103	+91.0%
1869	32,725	+80.8%
1880	33,694	+3.0%
1890	39,884	+18.4%
1900	53,033	+33.0%
1910	72,555	+36.8%
1920	82,689	+14.0%
1930	91,580	+10.8%
1941	110,840	+21.0%
1948	111,987	+1.0%
1956	142,257	+27.0%
1966	174,243	+22.5%
1977	269,353	+54.6%
1992	334,115	+24.0%
2002	317,660	−4.9%
2011	319,279	+0.5%
2021	250,849	−21.4%
Source: Census data, Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition

From a demographic point of view, Timișoara is defined, according to the Zipf's law, as a second-tier city, along with Iași, Constanța, Cluj-Napoca and Brașov, with extensive macro-territorial functions and having the second largest functional urban area, after Bucharest, of over 5,000 km (1,900 sq mi). In 2013, Bucharest and Timișoara were also the only metropolitan European growth areas (MEGAs) in Romania. Nationally, Timișoara has been recognized as the largest polarizing center in western Romania.

According to the 2021 census, the population of Timișoara amounted to 250,849 inhabitants, a decrease compared to the previous census in 2011, when 319,279 inhabitants were registered. However, these figures are questioned by local authorities and sociologists due to the defective way in which the census was conducted. According to the mayor's office and local population records, Timișoara numbers over 309,000 inhabitants as of 2023. The population of the city represents roughly 38% of the population of Timiș County, 15% of the population of the West development region and 1.3% of the total population of Romania. As defined by Eurostat, the Timișoara functional urban area has a population of 364,325 inhabitants (as of 2018).

According to a study conducted by the World Bank, Timișoara was between 2001 and 2011 the regional city in Romania that attracted the highest number of in-migrants. Timișoara serves as an important polarizer of the labor force for other regions of the country, with a demographic surplus, especially for the counties in northern Moldavia, northwestern Transylvania and Oltenia. Timișoara manages to attract about 8,000 new inhabitants annually, most coming mainly from Timiș County, but also from smaller cities in neighboring counties – Caraș-Severin, Hunedoara and Arad. In fact, 46.2% of the current population of Timișoara is made up of people who have moved here from elsewhere. In 2017, the former mayor Nicolae Robu stated that the city of Timișoara has an additional population of over 100,000 people compared to the officially registered residents. This includes students, workers, and other categories of floaters, who are not included in the statistical reports as they no longer acquire a residence visa.

Timișoara has stood out since ancient times as an ethnically diverse city. In 1910, the largest community was represented by Germans, followed by Hungarians, Romanians, Jews, Serbs and many other smaller communities, such as Czechs, Slovaks, Croats, Romas, Bulgarians, Poles, etc. The figures and percentage ratios are much changed today, but the multiethnic aspect of the city persists. Nowadays, 85% of the inhabitants are Romanians, while the minorities are much more diverse due to the presence of Asians, Italians, Muslims, and fewer Germans and Hungarians. Yet, in Timișoara live most Germans in Romania as share in the population of a city. The decline of German and Hungarian communities is mainly due to assimilation (for instance, 64% of Hungarians in Timișoara live in mixed marriages), migration and low birth rates. Timișoara is also home to an important Serb community, which in 2011 numbered almost 5,000 people. Many of them use Serbian as a second language, preferring Romanian. Serbian is more common among older generations educated in it.

In 2018, according to official data, over 7,000 foreigners lived in Timișoara. The actual figure is higher, given that many foreigners living in Timișoara do not apply for permanent residence, while spending most of their time in the city.

Population by ethnic groups under Hungarian and Romanian administration

Census	Total	Romanians	Hungarians	Germans	Jews	Romani	Ukrainians	Serbs	Croats	Czechs	Slovaks	Bulgarians
1880	38,702	5,037 (13.02%)	7,529 (19.45%)	20,518 (53.02%)	—	—	28 (0.07%)	2,415 (6.24%)	—	—	405 (1.05%)	—
1890	45,948	5,594 (12.17%)	11,100 (24.16%)	24,973 (54.35%)	—	—	27 (0.06%)	2,363 (5.14%)	52 (0.11%)	—	332 (0.72%)	—
1900	60,551	6,312 (10.42%)	19,162 (31.65%)	30,892 (51.02%)	—	—	13 (0.02%)	2,730 (4.51%)	130 (0.21%)	—	288 (0.48%)	—
1910	74,003	7,593 (10.26%)	28,645 (38.71%)	32,963 (44.54%)	—	—	4 (0.01%)	3,490 (4.72%)	149 (0.20%)	—	341 (0.46%)	—
1920	86,850	16,047 (18.48%)	27,189 (31.31%)	32,097 (36.96%)	8,307 (9.56%)	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1930	102,390	25,207 (24.62%)	31,773 (31.03%)	33,162 (32.39%)	7,264 (7.09%)	379 (0.37%)	56 (0.05%)	2,237 (2.18%)	—	—	652 (0.64%)	279 (0.27%)
1941	125,052	46,466 (37.16%)	24,891 (19.9%)	37,611 (30.08%)	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1956	142,257	75,855 (53.32%)	29,968 (21.07%)	24,326 (17.1%)	6,700 (4.71%)	122 (0.09%)	56 (0.04%)	3,065 (2.15%)	—	649 (0.46%)	575 (0.4%)	280 (0.2%)
1966	174,243	109,100 (62.61%)	31,016 (17.8%)	25,058 (14.38%)	2,590 (1.49%)	120 (0.07%)	71 (0.04%)	4,188 (2.4%)	—	516 (0.3%)	490 (0.28%)	475 (0.27%)
1977	269,353	191,742 (71.19%)	36,724 (13.63%)	28,429 (10.55%)	1,629 (0.6%)	1,109 (0.41%)	299 (0.09%)	6,776 (2.52%)	124 (0.05%)	481 (0.18%)	404 (0.15%)	942 (0.35%)
1992	334,115	274,511 (82.16%)	31,785 (9.51%)	13,206 (3.95%)	549 (0.16%)	2,668 (0.8%)	756 (0.23%)	7,748 (2.32%)	93 (0.03%)	227 (0.07%)	675 (0.20%)	1,314 (0.39%)
2002	317,660	271,677 (85.52%)	24,287 (7.65%)	7,157 (2.25%)	367 (0.12%)	3,062 (0.96%)	762 (0.24%)	6,311 (1.99%)	142 (0.04%)	171 (0.05%)	570 (0.18%)	1,218 (0.38%)
2011	319,279	259,754 (81.36%)	15,564 (4.87%)	4,193 (1.31%)	176 (0.06%)	2,145 (0.67%)	556 (0.17%)	4,843 (1.52%)	101 (0.03%)	124 (0.04%)	385 (0.12%)	859 (0.27%)
2021	250,849	176,615 (70.41%)	8,313 (3.31%)	2,189 (0.87%)	111 (0.04%)	745 (0.3%)	400 (0.16%)	2,776 (1.11%)	77 (0.03%)	90 (0.04%)	275 (0.11%)	643 (0.26%)
Note: censuses in italics are based on mother tongue rather than ethnicity.

Although much changed throughout its history, the religious composition of Timișoara is diverse. If in 1910 most of the inhabitants were Roman Catholics, in 2011 75% declared themselves Romanian Orthodox.

In Timișoara there are 80 churches, 12 of which were built after 1989; 41 belong to the Orthodox Church, eight to the Roman Catholic Church and three to the Greek Catholic Church. In addition, there are three synagogues in Cetate, Fabric and Iosefin neighborhoods, all three built before World War I, when Jews accounted for 10% of the city's population; at present, only the Orthodox synagogue in Iosefin and the Cetate synagogue hold religious services. Timișoara is the seat of the Archiepiscopate of Timișoara, the see of the Metropolis of Banat, as well as the seat of the Diocese of Timișoara, one of the six Roman Catholic dioceses in Romania.

The first free local elections in post-communist Timișoara took place in 1992. The winner was Viorel Oancea, of the Civic Alliance Party (PAC), which later merged with the National Liberal Party (PNL). He was the first officer who spoke to the crowd of revolutionaries gathered in Opera Square. The 1996 elections were won by Gheorghe Ciuhandu, of the Christian Democrats (PNȚ-CD). He had four terms, also winning elections in 2000, 2004 and 2008. Meanwhile, Ciuhandu took over the Christian Democratic Party and ran for president of Romania in 2004. Nicolae Robu (PNL) was elected mayor in 2012 and again in 2016. In 2020, Dominic Fritz, a native of Germany, was elected mayor on behalf of the USR with support from the FDGR. He won a new mandate in 2024 on behalf of the United Timișoara Alliance (USR–PMP–FD–UDMR).

The Local Council and the city's mayor are elected every four years by the population. Decisions are discussed and approved by the Local Council (Romanian: Consiliu Local) made up of 27 elected councilors. After the 2024 local elections, the Local Council has the following composition by political parties:

	Party	Seats	Current Council
	USR–PMP–FD–UDMR	13
	PSD–PNL	11
	AUR	3

Additionally, as Timișoara is the capital of Timiș County, the city hosts the Administrative Palace, the headquarters of the County Council (Romanian: Consiliu Județean) and the prefect, who is appointed by Romania's central government. The prefect is not allowed to be a member of a political party, and his role is to represent the national government at the local level, acting as a liaison and facilitating the implementation of national development plans and governing programs at the local level.

In 2003, neighborhood advisory councils were set up as a measure to improve local government consultation with citizens on local public policies. As of 2013, Timișoara had 20 neighborhood advisory councils.

Timișoara is the informal capital of the West development region, which is equivalent to NUTS-II regions in the European Union and is used by the European Union and the Romanian Government for statistical analysis and coordination of regional development projects. The West development region is not an administrative entity. Timișoara is also the largest economic, social and commercial center of the DKMT Euroregion.

Traditionally, Timișoara was divided into ten constituencies (Romanian: circumscripții) that today have no administrative function:

Constituency	Area (ha)	Romanian name	German name	Hungarian name	Established
I	480	Cetate	Innerstadt	Belváros	1717
II	1,017	Fabric	Fabrikstadt	Gyárváros	1744
III	668	Elisabetin	Elisabethstadt	Erzsébetváros	1896
IV	442	Iosefin	Josephstadt	Józsefváros	1744
V	493	Mehala	Franzstadt	Ferencváros	1910
VI	231	Fratelia	Neutischold	Újtesöld	1919
VII	156	Freidorf	Freidorf	Szabadfalu	1950
VIII	67	Plopi	Kardosch Kolonie	Kardostelep	1951
IX	72	Ghiroda Nouă	Neugiroda	Újgiroda	1951
X	102	Ciarda Roșie	Rotterhof	Vöröscsárda	1953
^ Including Viile Fabric (German: Rudolfsheim; Hungarian: Rezsőföld) ^ Including Beșenic (German: Beschenau; Hungarian: Besenyőtelep)

In addition to the above, a number of new neighborhoods have emerged in the 20th and 21st centuries:

Listed alphabetically

The Timișoara metropolitan area was outlined in 2008 following the collaboration of the local authorities from Timișoara and 14 neighboring communes (Becicherecu Mic, Bucovăț, Dudeștii Noi, Dumbrăvița, Ghiroda, Giarmata, Giroc, Moșnița Nouă, Orțișoara, Pișchia, Remetea Mare, Săcălaz, Sânmihaiu Român and Șag). The Timișoara metropolitan area is part of the Federation of Metropolitan Areas and Urban Agglomerations in Romania (FZMAUR). As of 2016, the metropolitan area groups over 410,000 inhabitants on an area eight times larger than the city proper.

Several localities neighboring Timișoara have experienced a significant development in recent years. Ghiroda, Giroc, Dumbrăvița, Chișoda, Moșnița Nouă and Utvin became suburbs of Timișoara due to the development of facilities, utilities and infrastructure, territorially joining the city. In the last 20 years, Timișoara has expanded its borders by about 8%, which means about 1,000 hectares, due to the construction of new neighborhoods or residential complexes. The city limits were moved outwards in 2006 by almost 5 km (3.1 mi). The largest expansion took place towards Șag.

In August 2016, mayors Nicolae Robu and Gheorghe Falcă signed the deed of establishment of the Timișoara–Arad metropolis, the first of its kind in Romania, part of the integrated development strategy Timișoara Vision 2030, carried out with the support of the World Bank, ADR Vest and FZMAUR. The project has been under discussion since 2006 and involved the unification of the metropolitan areas of Timișoara and Arad. In 2018, the population of the metropolis was 805,000 and is expected to exceed one million by 2030.

Timișoara is one of the most dynamic economic centers in Romania. Based on its proximity to the western border, Timișoara has managed to attract many foreign investments in recent years, forming, together with Arad, the second largest area in Romania in terms of economic mass. By the mid-2000s, the foreign investments in Timișoara amounted to €753 per capita, compared to €450 per capita at county level. Most of these investments come from the EU countries, especially from Italy, Germany and France. Similar to other growth poles in Romania, the services sector has developed significantly in recent years, accounting for half of the revenues.

After the fall of communism and the transition to a market economy, the private sector grew steadily. In the first decade of the 21st century, Timișoara has experienced an economic boom as the amount of foreign investment, especially in high-tech sectors, has risen. In an article in late 2005, French magazine L'Expansion called Timișoara Romania's economic showcase, and referred to the increased number of foreign investments as a "second revolution". In 2016, Timișoara was awarded by Forbes as the most dynamic city and the best city for business in Romania. Between 2000 and 2013, Timișoara had the highest growth rate of GDP per capita, surpassing even Bucharest. The local economic development has been reflected accordingly in the unemployment figures. For instance, in December 2019, the unemployment rate in Timișoara was among the lowest in the country, with only 0.8%.

After 1989, major changes took place in the structure of industrial activities in Timișoara due to the restructuring and retrofitting processes, industrial production currently including both traditional sub-branches and new, modern and dynamic ones. Unlike cities such as Cluj-Napoca, Iași or Bucharest, the localization of industry within the city is specific to Timișoara. The main industrial groups in the city can be structured in three types: urban industrial areas, with large area and complex profile (Calea Buziașului, Freidorf, pericentral area along the railway, Calea Șagului, etc.), industrial platforms with unitary profile (UMT and Solventul) and dispersed industrial units, respectively. In recent decades, industrial areas have developed along major road or rail arteries, with a tendency to group units by industrial profiles.

There are eight industrial zones in Timișoara where factories and plants cover several sectors from electronics, chemical and automotive to food processing and textile industries.

Buziașului industrial area concentrates units for chemical industry and production of automotive and electronic components. The area has seen an important development in recent years, attracting major investments from Procter & Gamble, Continental, Dräxlmaier, Elbromplast, AEM, Saguaro, etc. In 2013 Optica Business Park was inaugurated here. Developed on the old buildings of the former lens factory, Optica Business Park offices have attracted tenants such as Microsoft, Linde or ZTE. Șagului industrial area includes warehouses of construction materials (Arabesque, Arthema, Lipoplast, Mobexpert, etc.), as well as a significant number of showrooms and car dealers (Mercedes-Benz, Ford, Mitsubishi, Hyundai, Citroën, Opel, etc.). An important role in the development and diversification of the profile of the area is played by the Incontro Industrial Park, where construction companies are mainly located. Calea Șagului has also become an important commercial area, with hypermarkets such as Brico Dépôt, Auchan, Jysk, Metro or Leroy Merlin. Stretched on a usable area of 63 ha, Freidorf Industrial Park is an important area for attracting foreign investment, encouraging business development and creating new jobs. The automotive components industry predominates in the area (Kromberg & Schubert, ContiTech, ELBA, etc.). In the UMT industrial area are located mainly chemical and automotive industry units (Continental, Linde, Hella, etc.), but also warehouses. Torontalului industrial area includes units for manufacturing industry (Flex, Coca-Cola, SCA, etc.). The Timișoara Technology and Industrial Park was arranged here, with the aim of supporting the development of SMEs in fields such as software, IT and communications or electronics and electrical engineering. Aradului industrial area is the newest industrial area, with various locations for storage and provision of services. Like Calea Șagului, the Aradului area has become an important commercial hub, retailers like Selgros, Hornbach, Altex or Auchan operating here.

The main industrial branches, which have experienced an important growth in Timișoara, are the automotive industry, the chemical and petrochemical industry, as well as the electronics industry. The automotive components industry has registered a strong development in recent years, as a consequence of the need for technological development within existing industrial units, in Timișoara concentrating renowned companies in this field (Dräxlmaier, Kromberg & Schubert, ContiTech, TRW Automotive, Mahle, Hella, Dura, Valeo, Autoliv, Honeywell, etc.). In 2016, a competence center for automotive engineering – CERC – was inaugurated in the Freidorf area. This economic branch has old traditions. Between 1988 and 1991, the Romanian car model Dacia 500 Lăstun was made in the Tehnometal factories.

The electronics and electrical engineering industry is a successful branch of Timișoara's industry, especially due to the investments of large companies with activities in high tech production (Flex, Bosch, ABB, AEM, ELBA, Ericsson, etc.), which determined a development of local companies, suppliers or subcontractors.

The chemical and petrochemical industry, traditional in Timișoara, has developed especially through the investments made by Continental, Procter & Gamble and Azur.

Along with large investors from the top industries mentioned above, in Timișoara are concentrated a large number of companies, especially small and medium enterprises, in traditional fields such as textile and clothing industry, textile manufacturing and leather and footwear industry, foreign investors interested in these sectors mainly due to low production costs.

The office sector has boomed in the last decade, the stock of class A offices available for rent reaching 290,000 m in 2020, almost 10% of Bucharest's stock. The return on investment in office buildings exceeds the level in Bucharest (7%), standing at around 8.25%. The city has the lowest vacancy rate of class A office spaces, 5% in 2014.

City Business Center is the main office park in Timișoara, located in the city center. Completed in 2015, the complex is fully leased, with tenants including international companies such as Accenture, SAP, Deloitte, Wipro, IBM, Visma, Hella, etc. Named the greenest office project in Romania by BREEAM, Vox Technology Park was completed in early 2018. Bega Business Park is located near the historic center. The first two buildings were completed in 2015 and early 2018, respectively, and are fully occupied by Nokia's campus. Under construction are ISHO Offices, part of a larger project, and United Business Center. The latter will include the tallest office building in Romania (155 m).

At national level, Timișoara is one of the poles of the most intense activities in the IT industry. Well-known companies such as Google, Microsoft, IBM, Intel, Nvidia, Siemens, Nokia, Huawei, Atos, Accenture, Endava, Bitdefender or Visteon have offices in the city, supporting – through the hubs and the digital workshops created – start-ups and SMEs in the field. Before the rapid expansion of Cluj-Napoca, Timișoara concentrated the most IT professionals after Bucharest. In 2014, Timișoara had 7,000 employees in the field. In the same year, the Incuboxx cluster was inaugurated. Incuboxx is the largest IT&C business incubator in Romania, which includes 54 office spaces addressed to entrepreneurs and companies with local capital in the field.

Timișoara ranks 394th in the 2019 Innovation Cities Index, an annual list of the world's most innovation-friendly cities. Bucharest and Timișoara are the only Romanian cities on the list published by the World Economic Forum.

The real estate market in Timișoara, supported by the upward economic trend, has been booming lately. In 2017, about 4,000 living spaces were delivered to the market, an increase of almost 60% compared to the previous year, most of the projects representing high-rise residential complexes, addressed to the mass and mid-market segments. In the first nine months of 2016, according to the National Agency for Cadastre and Real Estate Advertising, over 32,000 sale/purchase transactions were concluded, making Timiș County the largest real estate market in Romania after Bucharest–Ilfov. 87% of them took place in Timișoara and neighboring communes. Among the largest residential complexes in Timișoara are ISHO, Adora Forest, Vivalia Grand, XCity Towers, Vox Vertical Village, Ateneo and City of Mara.

After 1989 the rural areas within the city became "hot spots" for housing investors, and the emergence of the middle class after 2000 changed both the landscape and the prices of houses and land. In 2020, for example, the price of an apartment reached 1,300 euros/m, the third-highest among Romanian big cities, after Cluj-Napoca and Bucharest. On the other hand, the phenomenon of gentrification renewed a part of the underused housing stock.

Bega Shopping Center is the only shopping center in the center of Timișoara and the first in the city. Bega Shopping Center is structured on six levels and has a leasable area of 7,500 m, of which 1,300 are allocated to a Carrefour supermarket. Bega Group, the holding company that owns Bega Shopping Center, has opened three other retail parks in Buziașului, Circumvalațiunii and Lipovei.

Iulius Mall was inaugurated in October 2005. Following an investment by Iulius Group and Atterbury Europe, Iulius Mall has been integrated into a large urban regeneration project – Iulius Town, complementing it with retail, office and entertainment functions. Iulius Town has the largest shopping area in Romania (120,000 m), a space that brings together over 450 stores. The estimated annual traffic for Iulius Town is over 20 million visitors.

The second mall, Shopping City, opened in March 2016. The shopping center has a leasable area of 70,000 m, covering almost 20 ha and comprising 110 stores on two levels. Within Shopping City, the largest Cinema City multiplex outside Bucharest was opened in April 2016, with 13 3D rooms, an IMAX room and a 4DX room. In the first year since its opening, Shopping City had a traffic of over nine million visitors.

The first strip mall in the city, Funshop Park, opened in 2022. Built on the former industrial platform of Azur, Funshop Park has a leasable area of 10,800 m and is provided with an outdoor food court area.

Along with the existing stores in the central area, new supermarkets have been opened by national and international concerns such as Selgros, Metro, Auchan, Kaufland, Carrefour, Lidl, Penny, Mega Image or Profi. On the bricolage and DIY market are present the stores of Dedeman, Hornbach, Brico Dépôt, Arabesque, Leroy Merlin, Mobexpert, Mömax, Jumbo and Decathlon, among others, part of local and international chains.

Timișoara is the central point of tourism in the region, attracting 80% of its tourists. In the first half of 2017, Timișoara and its surroundings attracted just over 50,000 foreign tourists to the third most visited region in Romania, after Bucharest–Ilfov and Brașov.

In 2013, in Timișoara there were 107 accommodation units (comprising 49 hotels, seven hostels, 50 pensions, and an international campsite) totaling 5,547 accommodation places.

Preschool education takes place in 70 kindergartens; the primary education in 47 schools; the secondary education in 36 high schools; the post-secondary education in 11 post-secondary schools; and the master workman education in six foreman schools. The school network also includes two special high schools for students with disabilities, three schools of inclusive education, five seminaries, a special school for students with amblyopia, two educational assistance centers and a Waldorf high school. The private education system includes an international school and high school with teaching according to the British curriculum, an English-language kindergarten and primary school, as well as a nursery and kindergarten with teaching according to the Finnish curriculum.

The specificity of pre-university education in Timișoara is the diversity of teaching languages. The city's rich multiethnic tradition has been maintained by the schools with teaching in Hungarian (Béla Bartók High School), German (Nikolaus Lenau High School), English (William Shakespeare High School), French (Jean-Louis Calderon High School) and Serbian (Dositej Obradović High School).

According to a ranking made by the AdmitereLiceu.ro portal in 2020, five high schools in Timișoara are among the top 100 high schools in Romania: Grigore Moisil High School, Constantin Diaconovici Loga National College, National College of Banat, Carmen Sylva National Pedagogical College and Nikolaus Lenau High School.

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  Carmen Sylva National Pedagogical College
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  Constantin Diaconovici Loga National College
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  National College of Banat
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  Nikolaus Lenau High School