End-of-year concerns in Romania

More than half of people in Romania believe 2024 was worse than 2023 for their country from an economic point of view, according to an opinion poll conducted by IRES.

Corina Cristea, 30.12.2024, 14:00

One in four Romanians is unhappy with their lives and a similar percentage say they didn’t have a single reason for great joy this year, according to a survey by IRES. The figures show that for 3 out of 10 Romanians, 2024 was better financially than 2023, and for just as many this year was worse than the previous one. Thus, the economic growth rate in terms of GDP per capita does not reflect in everyone’s pockets or the end-of-year shopping. In fact, throughout this year, as Eurostat also notes, Romania has seen the highest inflation rate among EU member states and the latest data from the National Institute of Statistics with respect to the evolution of consumer prices show that the annual inflation rate went up in November to 5.11% from 4.67% in October.

With respect to their state of health, for more than a quarter (28%), this was worse than in 2023, and in terms of jobs, the situation in the workplace was worse for 25% of respondents compared with the previous year. When it comes to people’s trust in other professions, fire fighters enjoy 92%, followed by IT specialists with 71%, engineers with 69%, nurses with 67%, and doctors with 63%, followed by army officers, priests, bank employees, economists and teachers with 55%. Only one in ten respondents has confidence in politicians.

Asked about the most negative event of the year in their opinion, more than four out of ten respondents said the cancellation of the first round of the presidential elections by the Constitutional Court. More than 60% believe this decision was bad, while a third believe it was good. In fact, the decision of the Constitutional Court to annul the first round of the presidential elections is considered by most respondents, namely 28%, as the event of the year in Romania.

The next most important events, with 18% each, were the country’s full entry into the Schengen area from 1^st January 2025 and the fact that the independent candidate Călin Georgescu, a Putin fan and an extremist, won the most number of votes in the first round of the presidential elections. The increase in pensions is the event of the year for 14% of respondents, while the sports achievements of Romanian athletes, such as the medals won at the Olympic Games in Paris, the performance of the national football side at the UEFA EURO 2024, and the medals won by swimmer David Popovici in Paris are in 5^th, 6^th and 7^th places.

The survey was conducted over the phone between 17^th and 20^th December, using a sample of 964 people and has a margin of error of +/- 3,3%.