On the economy alone, Romania's last three decades are a success story with few equals: from roughly a third of the European average in purchasing power in the 1990s, the country has come to overtake states it once would not dare compare itself with. The growth shows up in household incomes, not just in macro statistics.
But the average hides the edges. Romania remains among the EU countries with the most people at risk of poverty or social exclusion, even as the share falls. Income inequality, long among the Union's widest, has dropped steeply in the last two years of data, a change so rapid it warrants caution. Meanwhile a new vulnerability has appeared: the state systematically spends far more than it collects, and public debt, still moderate in level, is climbing fast. The direction of those two series is, right now, the most serious economic warning signal.
How much the economy produces per person, measured in PPS (purchasing power standard) — a Eurostat accounting currency calibrated so that one PPS buys, on average across the EU, what one euro buys; this strips out price differences between countries. The line has risen almost without interruption since the 1990s and keeps closing on the EU average (the dashed line): that closing gap is convergence itself.
Source: Eurostat
· Dataset: nama_10_pc
· Open source
Median household income
PPS per year (purchasing power standard)
improvingrecent trend, computed over 2018–2025
rank 26 of 27 in the EU (2025)
Closer to daily life than GDP: the disposable income of the household in the middle, adjusted for purchasing power. It has climbed steadily and steeply since the 2000s, at one of the fastest rates in the EU, though from a very low starting point.
Source: Eurostat
· Dataset: ilc_di03
· Open source
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE)
% of population
improvingrecent trend, computed over 2018–2025
rank 25 of 27 in the EU (2025)
The unseen side of growth: how much of the population lives in relative poverty, severe material deprivation, or near-workless households. The share falls year after year, which is real progress, but Romania and Bulgaria still sit at the bottom of the European ranking.
Source: Eurostat
· Dataset: ilc_peps01n
· Open source
Income inequality (Gini coefficient)
scale 0–100 (0 = perfect equality)
improvingrecent trend, computed over 2018–2025
rank 9 of 27 in the EU (2025)
How unequally income is shared, after taxes and transfers. For years Romania sat in the group of the most unequal EU states. Then, in the 2024 and 2025 data, the index fell steeply, below the European average. The compression is partly explainable (large minimum-wage and pension increases), but so abrupt a statistical move calls for caution until confirmed by the next waves.
Source: Eurostat
· Dataset: ilc_di12
· Open source
Employment rate (20–64)
% of population aged 20–64
improvingrecent trend, computed over 2021–2025
the vertical dotted line marks a methodology change
rank 26 of 27 in the EU (2025)
How many working-age adults actually work. The rate climbs slowly but stays below the European average, with large gaps for women and in rural areas. That is a growth reserve Romania is not using.
Source: Eurostat
· Dataset: lfsi_emp_a
· Open source
Budget deficit
% of GDP (how much the state spends above what it collects)
decliningrecent trend, computed over 2018–2025
rank 27 of 27 in the EU (2025) — last place in the EU
The gap between what the state collects and what it spends. Romania is in the EU's excessive-deficit procedure and has run, in recent years, one of the largest deficits in the Union, year after year, not only in crisis years. This is the fiscal weak point of the moment.
Source: Eurostat
· Dataset: gov_10dd_edpt1
· Open source
Public debt
% of GDP
decliningrecent trend, computed over 2018–2025
rank 14 of 27 in the EU (2025)
The level is still below the EU average, the legacy of a low starting point. But direction matters: debt as a share of GDP has grown nearly fivefold since 2008, is climbing faster each year, and the state pays some of the highest interest rates in the Union. The problem is the trajectory, not the level.
Source: Eurostat
· Dataset: gov_10dd_edpt1
· Open source