No. 56, Nov.-Dec. 2025 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%). More
No. 55, Sep.-Oct. 2025 Romania has the lost lowest rate in the EU on tertiary educational attainment, according to data published by Eurostat for 2024. Ireland (65.2%), Luxembourg (63.8%) and Cyprus (60.1%) had the highest tertiary education attainment rates, while Romania (23.2%), Italy (31.6%) and Hungary (32.3%) had the lowest rates. More
No. 54, Jul.-Aug. 2025 Romania has the lowest prices for food and non-alcoholic beverages in EU, according to a study published by Eurostat. Romania’s prices were 24% below the average, followed by Slovakia (at 17% below the average) and Poland (-13%). The study was focused primarily on price levels for food, beverages and tobacco in 36 European countries. The country groups included in the analysis were the 27 European Union (EU) countries, 3 EFTA countries (Iceland, Norway and Switzerland) and 6 candidate countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Türkiye). More
No. 54, Jul.-Aug. 2025 The data revealed by Eurostat showed that Croatia and Romania had the lowest employment rates among people aged 50-74, with less than 40% of individuals in this age group employed. Among the 60-74 age group, Luxembourg and Romania had the lowest employment rates, with less than 15% of people employed. More
No. 53, May-Jun. 2025 In 2024, 93.3 million people in the EU (21.0% of the population) were at risk of poverty or social exclusion, which means they lived in households experiencing at least 1 of 3 poverty and social exclusion risks: risk of poverty, severe material and social deprivation, and living in a household with very low work intensity. Compared with 2023, there was a slight decrease of 0.3 percentage points (21.3% of the population, 94.6 million people). More
No. 53, May-Jun. 2025 In 2024, compared with 2023, hourly labour costs at whole economy level expressed in euro rose by 5.0% in the EU and by 4.5% in the euro area. Within the euro area, hourly labour costs increased in all countries. The largest increases were recorded in Croatia (+14.2%), Latvia (+12.1%) and Lithuania (+10.8%) and the lowest in Czechia (+1.3%), followed by Finland (+1.8%) and Luxembourg (+2.1%). More
No. 52, Mar.-Apr. 2025 Cluj is just ahead of Bucharest in terms of local purchasing power and the amount needed for monthly expenses, according to data aggregated by the international website numbeo.com. Thus, with +0.7% in the first indicator and a slightly lower need for money for the same standard of living (despite higher rents), the capital of Transylvania marginally outperformed the capital of Romania. More
No. 51, Jan.-Feb. 2025 The work intensity of a household is the ratio of the total number of months that adult household members have worked during the income reference year and the total number of months the same household members theoretically could have worked in the same period. It is defined in levels, ranging from very low (household working time was equal to or less than 20% of the full potential) to very high (working time was more than 85% of the full potential). Generally, the higher the work intensity within a household (the closer people are to full employment), the lower the probability of being at-risk-of-poverty. More
No. 51, Jan.-Feb. 2025 In 2023, for the 11 EU Member States that reported inward Ultimate Investing Economy (UIE) in Foreign Direct Investment positions, the top UIE was Germany, (12.1% of total value of UIE FDI positions of the 11 reporting countries), followed by the United States (11.9%). Romania is included in the reporting EU Member States, alongside Austria, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Spain, Finland, France, Greece, Italy and Portugal, which reported inward UIE FDI positions to Eurostat. More
No. 50, Nov.-Dec. 2024 Romania occupies a depreciating but relatively decent position in the regional context in terms of the Real Effective Exchange Rate (REER), an indicator that summarizes the evolution of the exchange rate and consumer prices in relation to the main actors in international trade. The indicator is critical for the chronic and growing trade deficit, reaching at over 18 billion euros in the first 7 months of this year. More
No. 49, Sep.-Oct. 2024 The excessive deficit procedure is a major factor in fighting the fiscal deficit for Romania, which is expected to rise to approx. 7% of GDP this year. Due to COVID-19, the EU suspended its budgetary rules for all Member States between 2020 and 2023 by activating the general escape clause. As of 2024, the general escape clause is no longer in effect. The EU has therefore relaunched the deficit-based EDP process under the new rules of the revised economic governance framework. More
No. 48, Jul.-Aug. 2024 Eurostat has published the state of play of the Social Scoreboard for Member States, summarised in the evolution of 16 profile indicators. In terms of GDP per capita at standard purchasing power parity, Romania is at 80% of the EU average, on a par with Poland and higher than Hungary, Croatia (76%), Slovakia (73%), Latvia (71%), Greece (67%) and Bulgaria (64%). More
