NIS: Romania's population is still on a downward trend

Romania's population is still on a downward trend, but international migration is bringing a plus to resident citizens, according to the latest data from the National Institute of Statistics.

NIS president Tudorel Andrei told our radio station that the number of foreigners entering Romania was higher than the number of Romanians leaving the country.

However, the demographic decline is worrying in Romania, and specialists' projections show that fertility recovery would be the only option that can lead to an improvement in Romania's demographic situation in the future:

Tudorel Andrei: 2022 is the first year in which we have more immigrant inflows than emigrants. It's the first year in which we have a positive increase in Romania's population due to international migration. Immigrants were around 300.000 and emigrants were around 200.000, so we had a gain of about 100.000. We are in a period in which international migration brings a plus to Romania's resident population. After all, these are the two most important factors in population dynamics and we must take them into account in Romania's population growth policies. We should not only consider the fertility rate, which, unfortunately, is following the same trend that most European countries are following.

The National Institute of Statistics is celebrating its 165th anniversary today.

Translated by: Radu Matei