More than half of Romanians say that it is worse in the country now than in 1989, survey says

More than 50% of Romanians believe that the situation in the country is worse than in 1989, according to surveys carried out by INSCOP Research, within the “Romania Agenda 2050” project, commissioned by the Strategic Thinking Group, launched on Thursday, in a press conference.

The University of Bucharest, the “Babeş Bolyai” University of Cluj-Napoca, the Politehnica University of Bucharest, the West University of Timisoara, the “Grigore T. Popa” University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Iasi were partners in this project.

The first survey was conducted between May 23 and June 14, on a sample of 1,500 people, and the second between September 26 and October 4, on a sample of 1,200 people. The samples are representative of the significant socio-demographic categories for the non-institutionalized population of Romania, aged 18 and over.

Therefore, a percentage of 54% of Romanians, according to the survey carried out in May – June, respectively 57.4%, according to the research from September – October, consider that the general situation in Romania is worse than in 1989.

“Those of the mature generation in one way or another are disappointed by the gap between their expectations in 1989 and what has happened now. On the other hand, there are young people who do not know much about what was before 1989, about what society was like and people don’t think rationally. For example, no one thinks that in Romanian society in 1989, almost everything was missing, you didn’t have freedom of movement, the standard of living was extremely low, you didn’t have basic things, such as permanent access to electricity, fuel or food”, said the rector of the University of Bucharest, Marian Preda, regarding the opinion of the Romanians about the situation before 1989,

According to the research, 43.5% of those interviewed in May – June, respectively 39.1% of the subjects from September – October, opined that the general situation of the country in 2050 will be better than at present. Both surveys reveal that 68.4% of respondents agree with the transition to environmentally friendly energy sources.

More than half (51.5%) of Romanians answered that the cost of energy would lead them to reduce their energy consumption. At the same time, almost three quarters (72.5%) of those interviewed would like to install photovoltaic panels at the house or block where they live.

Almost 43% of those surveyed prefer transport with personal vehicles to travel longer distances within the town, and 27.3% public transport. When asked what are the two most important environmental problems facing Romania, 58.4% of those surveyed answered illegal deforestation, and 42.6% water pollution.

The survey from September-October showed that, regarding the three main problems of the Romanian education system, 53.6% of those interviewed referred to the poor training and disinterest of some of the teachers, 45.1% to school dropout among children from disadvantaged backgrounds, 41% to the lack of discipline of students.

Almost 62% of respondents are of the opinion that parents do not pay enough attention to their children at school. 88% of those surveyed believe that school education is the best way to succeed in life. According to the survey from May-June, 76.1% of Romanians are concerned about their state of health very much or quite a lot.

The September-October research shows that a third (33.3%) of those surveyed thought about going to work abroad at some point in the future, and 65.8% said they had not considered it. 41.5% of Romanians are of the opinion that those who go to work abroad are seen in our country as having “no alternatives”. 82.5% of respondents agree with tax reductions for private companies that initiate new investments in the economy. 57% of Romanians totally agree with increasing allowances and pensions, even if there are no budgetary resources, and 27.4% – somewhat agree.

According to the survey from May-June reveals that 83.5% of Romanians believe that the country should orient itself towards the west in terms of political and military alliances, i.e. towards the European Union, the USA and NATO.

From both surveys, it appears that 89.2% of Romanians are of the opinion that the population should be consulted more often through a referendum on major topics of local or national interest.