According to the interim report on the country’s population, the number of residents residing in Romania increased by 9,100 last year compared to 2021.
According to INS calculations, the country’s population reached 19,051,562 on the first day of this year. The latest census, which reflects the conditions of December 1, 2021, showed that there are 19,053,815 permanent residents in Romania.
According to the Statistical Institute, 201,000 people left Romania last year.
While the number of returning Romanian citizens and foreign immigrants who have settled here for more than a year (including Ukrainian refugees who need temporary protection in Romania) was close to 287,000.
Thus, the migration balance achieved a population surplus for the first time, even to the extent (85,480 people) that managed to compensate for natural reproduction, which was still in the negative range.
According to the report of the Statistical Office, the aging of the population in Romania also increased last year: while the proportion of people under 15 years of age remained stable (16.2 percent), the proportion of people over 65 years of age increased slightly (by 0.3 percentage points). to 19.7 percent. The so-called dependency ratio – which reflects the number of children and elderly people per 100 active adults (ages 15 to 65) – rose from 55.5 to 56.1 percent.
At the time of the regime change, immigration was primarily responsible for the sharp decline in population in a country of more than 22 million people, especially in the years after joining the European Union, when more than three million guest workers moved from Romania to the West. Although immigration has declined, it still negatively affects the demographics
The majority of Romanian citizens who moved abroad belong to the age group of 25-45 years, which is important for having children.
Romania, which suffers from a serious labor shortage due to a declining population, has recently allowed an increasing number of foreign nationals from outside the European Union to settle.
The quota for guest workers in 2022 and 2023 has been set at 100,000 by the Bucharest government.
However, according to Romanian media reports, the majority of immigrants from the Far East regard only the Romanian worker visa as a stepping stone, through which they can legally enter the European Union, but not stay in Romania, but try to reach Western Europe. Illegally.
Cover image source: Getty Images
