260px|right|thumb|Map of Tulcea County.
Tulcea County () is a county (județ) of Romania, in the historical region Northern Dobruja, with the capital city at Tulcea. It includes in its northeast corner the large and thinly-populated delta of the Danube.
Demographics
In 2021, Tulcea County had a population of 193,355. The population density was 22.8/km<sup>2</sup>, the lowest among the counties of Romania, due to the inclusion within the area of the lowly-populated Danube estuarial wetlands. The county is also the least populous in the country.
- Romanians - 79.18%
- Russians (Lipovans) - 4.14%
- Roma - 2.05%
- Turks - 0.51%
- Ukrainians - 0.47%
- Greeks - 0.14%
- Tatars - 0.05%
- Bulgarians - 0.02%
In the Danube Delta there is an important community of Russians (Lipovans). In the south of the county there are communities of Turks. The region once was a centre of Islam in Romania.
{| class="wikitable"
! Year
! County population
|-
! 1948
| 192,228
|-
! 1956
| 223,719
|-
! 1966
| 236,709
|-
! 1977
| 254,531
|-
! 1992
| 270,197
|-
! 2002
| 256,492
|-
! 2011
| 201,462
|-
! 2021
| 193,355
|}
{| class="wikitable"
! Ethnicity
! 2002
! 2011
! 2021
{| class="wikitable"
! style="background:#ccc" |
! style="background:#ccc" | Party
! style="background:#ccc" | Seats
! style="background:#ccc" colspan="13" | Current County Council
|-
|
| Social Democratic Party (PSD)
| style="text-align: right" | 13
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| National Liberal Party (PNL)
| style="text-align: right" | 11
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|-
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| Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR)
| style="text-align: right" | 6
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2020 local elections
{| class="wikitable"
! style="background:#ccc" |
! style="background:#ccc" | Party
! style="background:#ccc" | Seats
! colspan="13" style="background:#ccc" | Current County Council
|-
|
| National Liberal Party (PNL)
| style="text-align: right" | 13
|
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|-
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| Social Democratic Party (PSD)
| style="text-align: right" | 12
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|-
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| PRO Romania (PRO)
| style="text-align: right" | 3
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|-
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| People's Movement Party (PMP)
| style="text-align: right" | 2
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|}
Administrative divisions
thumb|[[Tulcea harbour]]
thumb|[[Măcin]]Tulcea County has 1 municipality, 4 towns and 46 communes.
;Municipalities
- Tulcea — capital city; population: 65,624 (as of 2021)
;Towns
;Communes
Historical county
Historically, the county was located in the southeastern part of Greater Romania, in the region of north Dobruja. The borders of the historic county coincide with those of the present county. It bordered on the west with Brăila County, northwest with Covurlui County, to the north with Ismail County, to the south by Constanța County, and to the east and south-east with the Black Sea.
Administration
thumb|right|350px|Map of Tulcea County as constituted in 1938.
The county was originally divided administratively into four districts (plăși):
- Plasa Babadag, headquartered at Babadag
- Plasa Gurile Dunării, headquartered at Tulcea
- Plasa Măcin, headquartered at Măcin
- Plasa Topolog, headquartered at Topolog
As in the present day there were five towns (cities): Tulcea (county headquarters), Babadag, Măcin, Isaccea and Sulina.
Population
thumb|right|350px|Map of Tulcea County's ethnic groups as reported in the 1930 census.
According to the 1930 census data, the county population was 184,038 inhabitants, ethnically divided as follows: 62.6% Romanians, 12.2% Russians, 10.6% Bulgarians, 2.5% Turks, 1.7% Greeks, 1.3% Germans, as well as other minorities. From the religious point of view, the population was 85.8% Eastern Orthodox, 8.3% Old-Rite Lipovan Orthodox, 2.8% Muslim, 1.5% Roman Catholic, 0.6% Lutheran, as well as other minorities.
Urban population
In 1930, the county's urban population was 41,632 inhabitants, comprising 64.7% Romanians, 12.8% Russians, 5.5% Turks, 4.4% Greeks, 3.3% Bulgarians, 2.5% Jews, 0.8% Germans, as well as other minorities. Mother tongues among the urban population were Romanian (69.4%), followed by Russian (15.0%), Turkish (5.5%), Greek (3.9%), Yiddish (1.5%), as well as other minorities.