Poverty in Romania: A Quarter of the Population Experiences Severe Financial Strain

In absolute terms, the number of impoverished individuals last year was 4.02 million Romanians, a decrease of 278,000 people compared to 2021, as reported by the National Institute of Statistics on Friday.

Thus, the National Institute of Statistics (INS) determined that 21.2% of the resident population lived in households with incomes lower than the threshold set at 60% of the median disposable income per adult equivalent. Almost a quarter (24.3%) of the population experienced acute financial resource shortages, while nearly 600,000 individuals up to the age of 65 (4.2%) lived in households with very low labor intensity.

The poverty rate by gender (21.7% for females and 20.8% for males) indicates that there are no significant differences between women and men.

The highest incidence of poverty was found among individuals aged 0-17 years (27.0%) and those aged 18-24 years (26.5%).

The poverty rate for individuals living in households with minors and dependents aged 18-24 was 23.5% in 2022, higher by 5.2 percentage points than that of individuals living in households without minors and dependent youth.

Social transfers play a crucial role in reducing the poverty rate. If pensions and other social transfers were not paid in 2022, nearly half of the population (45.0%) would have fallen below the relative poverty threshold, and notably, the situation would have worsened for the elderly (65 and over) who, to the extent of 84.8%, would have been in a state of relative poverty. The same situation would have occurred for individuals in the 55-64 age group, but to a lesser extent, at 51.5%.

In 2022, severe financial strain was experienced by 24.3%, an increase of 1.2 percentage points compared to the previous year.

The total number of individuals affected by severe material and social deprivation in 2022 was 4.59 million, with 46.8% being men and 53.2% women.

Severe material and social deprivation affects the population with varying intensity based on age group and household income. In 2022, the incidence of severe material and social deprivation is higher, particularly among individuals aged up to 18 years (30.8%) and elderly individuals aged 65 and over (25.8%).