Though Zalau has a long history (of which a.o. the Roman fort remains), until World War II it only had a small population of below 10.000.
This quickly rose to 14.000 in 1966, when the city became a regional industrial centre as one of the effects of the Systematization process, the urban planning and 'colonisation' process of the communist regime, aiming to develop the countryside. The population doubled in 1977 to 31.000, and more than doubled again to 68.000 in 1992. The inhabitants worked in factories such as Armătura Zalău, Silcotub Zalău and Anvelope Silvania. They were housed in housing estates and mikrorayons built in both the centre and the outskirts of the town.
Since 1992, the population is shrinking again and was down to 56.000 in 2011.
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