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Date oficiale · National Institute of Statistics (INS)

Poverty and inequality

How many people live at risk of poverty or social exclusion in Romania, how many are below the relative poverty line, and how unequally incomes are shared.

At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE)

27.9 %

2024

−4.1 p.p. vs 2023

Relative poverty rate

19.0 %

2024

−2.1 p.p. vs 2023

The “At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE)” series

Series high
46.0 %2016
Series low
27.9 %2024
Years published
10since 2015

Trends

At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) · solid lineRelative poverty rate · dashed line
Poverty and inequality, All years The annual trend of Poverty, from 2007 to 2024, in %. At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE): a trecut de la 44.5 la 27.9. Relative poverty rate: a trecut de la 24.6 la 19.0. The exact figures are in the table below. 10 20 30 40 50 maxim 46.0 27.9 19.0
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) · solid lineRelative poverty rate · dashed line
Poverty and inequality, Last 10 years The annual trend of Poverty, from 2015 to 2024, in %. At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE): a trecut de la 44.5 la 27.9. Relative poverty rate: a trecut de la 25.4 la 19.0. The exact figures are in the table below. 10 20 30 40 50 maxim 46.0 27.9 19.0

The Gini coefficient

Income inequality, on a scale from 0 (everybody has the same) to 100 (one person has everything). From the same EU-SILC survey.

The Gini coefficient

28.0 points

2024

−3.0 p.p. vs 2023
The Gini coefficient · solid line
The Gini coefficient The annual trend of The Gini coefficient, from 2007 to 2024, in points. Valoarea a trecut de la 38.3 la 28.0. The exact figures are in the table below. 25 30 35 40 maxim 38.3 28.0
The last 12 years. The figures are in points.
Period The Gini coefficient
2024 28.0
2023 31.0
2022 32.0
2021 34.3
2020 33.8
2019 34.8
2018 35.1
2017 33.1
2016 34.7
2015 37.4
2014 35.0
2013 34.6

What it means

The at-risk-of-poverty-or-social-exclusion rate (AROPE) counts the people who are in at least one of three situations: their income is below the relative poverty line, they suffer severe material and social deprivation, or they live in a household with very low work intensity. A person in two or three of them is counted once.

Relative poverty does not measure absolute want but distance from the rest of society: the line is 60% of that year's median equivalised income. If every income rises at the same pace, the rate stays unchanged — and conversely, it can rise in a year when everybody is better off, if the middle of the distribution climbs faster than the bottom.

The Gini coefficient in the panel below measures income inequality on a scale from 0 to 100: zero would mean everybody has exactly the same income, a hundred that a single person has everything. It is computed from the same survey.

History

The last 18 years. The figures are in %.
Period At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) Relative poverty rate
2024 27.9 19.0
2023 32.0 21.1
2022 34.4 21.2
2021 34.4 22.5
2020 35.6 23.4
2019 36.1 23.8
2018 38.7 23.5
2017 42.5 23.6
2016 46.0 25.3
2015 44.5 25.4
2014 – 25.1
2013 – 23.0
2012 – 22.9
2011 – 22.3
2010 – 21.6
2009 – 22.1
2008 – 23.6
2007 – 24.6

Source: National Institute of Statistics (INS), matrices SAR102A, SAR107A, SAR114A. Period covered: 2007 – 2024. See the source.

The data come from the EU-SILC survey on income and living conditions, are annual, and are published with roughly a year's delay. The AROPE series here is the one on the current definition, in use since 2015; INS publishes separately the series on the Europe 2020 Strategy definition, which is not comparable with this one.