Transylvania is located, from the politic, historic and geographic point of view, in the Central-Eastern European area, on the eastern side of the Transylvanian Depression, within the area of today`s Romania.

Nowadays, contemporary Transylvania is understood as the whole northwest area of Romania, comprised of 16 counties. This area embraces the Transylvanian Plateau, Crişana and The Stone Land, South Transylvania and Banat, Szeklerland, Saxon Land, and Maramureş. According to the data of the census made in 2002, 72% of the Transylvanian inhabitants declared themselves as having Romanian nationality. After Romanians, ethnic Hungarians are the next largest population; they have a different religion and culture than Romanians have. Among the 16 counties, the Hungarians represent the majority in two counties (Harghita 84% and Covasna 73%).

Of the over 600,000 Saxons and Swabians who once lived in Translyvania, nearly all have left. Besides them, the populations of gypsies, Rusins or Ruteni, Slavians, Bulgarians, Czechs, Armeni, Hebrews, and others complete the pattern of the ethnic mosaic of Transylvania.

With this distribution by nationality and religion, it is obvious that the today`s Transylvania is a multicultural region of Europe. This is not a surprise, because the Central European influences meet here those coming from the Balkans. But, from the ecclesiastic point of view, the dominant religions are Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox.