Income Inequalities and Social Vulnerability in Romania

Marinela Istrate , Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi
Ionel Muntele, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi

In this study, we examined the development gaps in Romania through income distribution, emphasizing the vulnerability of certain population categories. Access to income and ensuring a decent standard of living, although it is a fundamental right, often involves the manifestation of significant gaps. In the case of Romania, after 1990, a continuous increase in income disparities was observed. Based on the above considerations, a statistical-territorial analysis was carried out in which the incomes of the population and their distribution at the level of local administrative units were analyzed, taking into account both the annual income as a whole, as well as its components (salaries, social benefits, remittances and income from agricultural activities). The results obtained show that the main winners are Bucharest city and the regions in the central-western part of the country, which adapted more quickly to the market economy, including through the massive concentration of foreign direct investments, with an effect on the expansion of the labor market and the increase of wages. Disadvantaged by the peripheral position and by an aging and feminized population, the extra-Carpathian regions had to adapt either through temporary migration abroad or through the development of small businesses in agriculture and tourism. All these analyzes show that there is no convergence of level of development in Romania; the disparities between some dynamic areas and the rest of the country are quite large and tending to increase, which demonstrates the precariousness of territorial cohesion and the vulnerability of a large part of the population.

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 Presented in Session P3. Migration, Economics, Policies, History