Bucharest-Ilfov Region, European Leader in Work Intensity but Encircled by Poverty
The capital region of Romania is the European leader in work intensity, according to data presented by Eurostat for 2024. While 7.9% of people in the EU lived in a household with very low work intensity, the lowest shares among EU regions were in the capital regions of Bucharest-Ilfov in Romania (0.6%), Bratislavský kraj in Slovakia (0.8%) and Warszawski stołeczny in Poland (1.1%).
By contrast, the South-East region of Romania, which encircles the capital region, is among the top 10 EU regions with the highest rates of people at risk of poverty or social exclusion. Specifically, it ranks eighth, with a level of 39.7%, immediately after Sicily, with 40.9%, and almost double the European average of 21%.
The indicator for people at risk of poverty or social exclusion is based on measures of relative poverty, severe material and social deprivation, and quasi-joblessness. The number/rate of people at risk of poverty or social exclusion combines these criteria to cover people who are in at least one of the following situations:
- at risk of poverty – people with an equivalised disposable income (after social transfers) below the at-risk-of-poverty threshold, which is set at 60% of the national median equivalised disposable income;
- facing severe material and social deprivation – people unable to afford at least 7 out of 13 deprivation items (6 related to the individual and 7 related to the household) that are considered desirable, or even necessary, to lead an adequate quality of life;
- living in a household with very low work intensity – where adults aged 18 to 64 years (excluding students aged 18 to 24 years and retired people under the age of 65 years) worked for 20% or less of their combined potential working time during the previous 12 months.
Generally speaking, people living in the capital regions of eastern EU countries faced a lower risk of poverty or social exclusion compared with those living elsewhere. But Eurostat highlights Romania as having the biggest gap, with the national at-risk-of-poverty or social exclusion rate (27.9%) being 2.3 times as high as the rate recorded in the capital region of Bucharest-Ilfov (12.0%) - although still relatively elevated despite the high work intensity.
Surprisingly, the Romanian capital region of Bucharest-Ilfov had, by far, the lowest at-risk-of-poverty rate (3.7% in 2024), while rates below 7.0% were also observed in the northern Italian regions of Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano/Bozen and Provincia Autonoma di Trento, as well as in the northern Belgian regions of Prov. Oost-Vlaanderen, Prov. Vlaams-Brabant and Prov. West-Vlaanderen. Slightly above were Bratislavský kraj in Slovakia (7.0%), Praha in Czechia (7.5%), Warszawski stołeczny in Poland (8.0%), Budapest in Hungary (9.5%) and Grad Zagreb in Croatia (9.7%); the seventh was Helsinki-Uusimaa in Finland (9.4%).
So, if it is not work intensity and not particularly risk of poverty, the problem in our capital region must be mostly a high degree of social exclusion. And that is a very serious matter that should be tackled with determination by the authorities. Notably, the at-risk-of-poverty rate in Sud-Vest Oltenia, also in the south of the country, was 8.1 times as high as in the capital region of Bucharest-Ilfov. The proximity of the two regions that have performed badly is very probably related to poor infrastructure in connecting urban centres to rural areas around them.
The spread of recently acquired wealth is extremely biased inside Romania, and this should be a factor analysed from the perspective of social cohesion. If one can switch from well above the EU average to a fraction of that average within tens of kilometres, something is definitely not right and measures should be taken.
Photo source: PxHere.com.
