Health

The ultimate summary of a nation's health. The gain since 1990 is substantial, and the pandemic dip was recovered quickly. But beyond that recovery, the last decade has brought minimal advance: progress has nearly stopped, and the gap of several good years of life to the EU average persists.

One of modern Romania's greatest advances: from over twenty-five per thousand in 1990, the rate has fallen steadily, decade after decade. Two problems remain: it is still the highest in the EU, and in the most recent years the decline has stopped; the figure has even ticked up.

The health system's most uncomfortable indicator: deaths that would not have occurred with effective, timely care, from heart attacks and strokes to treatable cancers. Romania records, year after year, the highest values in the Union, more than double the European average.

How much of healthcare's cost comes straight from the patient's pocket, from medicines to informal payments. A high share hits precisely those least able to afford it and signals gaps in public coverage. Romania fares better than some Eastern European peers, but sits above the EU average.

A disease of poverty and weak health systems, tuberculosis has fallen to less than half its 2000 level, in steady, real progress. But Romania started so high that it remains, to this day, the EU country with the highest incidence.

One of the few charts in this section moving the wrong way: from once-near-universal coverage, the rate has slid well below the ~95% threshold needed for herd immunity. Romania officially declared a measles epidemic in 2023; the consequence shows up in paediatric wards.