From economic perceptions to everyday behavior
One-third of Romanians report declining quality of life over the last year.
Roxana Vasile, 24.09.2026, 13:50
The national currency has depreciated significantly against major currencies, with the Leu reaching an all-time low against the Euro. At the pump, gasoline has hit the equivalent of roughly 2 Euros per liter, while diesel has surpassed that threshold, forcing Romanians to spend increasingly more out of pocket for a full tank each day.
Under these conditions, it comes as little surprise that nearly one-third of citizens, 32%, say they are living worse than they were a year ago. According to a telephone survey conducted by INSCOP, an overwhelming majority, over 86% of the country’s population, continues to expect prices to rise over the next six months.
Remus Ștefureac, director of INSCOP Research, explains in a press release that we are witnessing “the stabilization of an already established state of economic mistrust. Not in the sense that people view the situation as normal or acceptable, but that they are beginning to adapt their decisions to the assumption that hardships will persist, thereby expressing a form of resilience”.
This adaptation is clearly visible in spending intentions: more than half of survey participants state that they will spend less over the next six months than they do currently. Their expectations for an improving economy remain equally reserved—only about 1 in 10 Romanians foresees a turn for the better in the coming year, while half of those surveyed do not believe the situation will improve in the foreseeable future.
This same trend is echoed in the business community. Florin Jianu, president of National Council of SMEs (IMM România), speaks of an economy in which small and medium-sized enterprises are adapting to a harsher reality, pointing directly to a slowdown in hiring:
“Whereas in previous years we saw positive growth in hiring, this year recruitment in many companies has halted entirely, and people are leaving. We’ve also seen the unemployment rate already rise by a full percentage point, alongside a high number of terminated employment contracts.”
However, Leonardo Badea, First Deputy Governor of the National Bank of Romania, emphasizes that sentiment indicators should not be viewed as a substitute for hard economic statistics, but rather as a vital complement to them:
“When you want to develop economic policies, you do not build them solely or exclusively on surveys or public perceptions, yet those perceptions must not be ignored.”
In other words, when caution moves beyond mere perception and translates into postponed spending, deferred financial decisions, or higher savings rates, economic sentiment directly shapes real-world economic outcomes. (VP)
