Demographic Year Book 2003

Romania

Population

On July 1, 2001 the population was 22 408 400, of which 10 949 500 were men and 11 458 900 were women. In the last decade the population has been decreasing at an average rate of 0.15 % per year as a result of a natural decrease and external migration.

A continuous decrease in the number of live births combined with an increase in the number of deaths turned the natural increase of +67 600 persons in 1990 into a natural decrease of –39 200 persons in 2001. From 1990-1991 the population decrease was exclusively determined by the level of external migration: its negative balance of almost 135 000 outweighed the natural increase of 91 000 persons. Since 1992, the country has experienced both a negative net migration and a natural decrease. The natural decrease during the period 1992-2001 was 291 500 persons and the negative net migration over two times lower.

Compared to the previous year, the young population (under 15) has decreased by 112 500 persons, while the adult (15-59 years) and elderly population (60 years and over) increased by 73 600 and 12 100 respectively. It was the first time in the last four decades that the share of the elderly increased against the young population.

Marriage and divorce

129 900 marriages were registered in 2001, giving a crude marriage rate of 5.8 ‰ – the lowest rate in the post-war period. The decreasing number of registered marriages in 2000 is part of a general trend that started in 1990. However, Romania has still a high marriage rate compared to other European countries where rates of 4-5 ‰ are common.

In 2001, the number of first marriages decreased compared to the previous year. Hypothetically speaking, about one-third of all single people will never marry. Due to socio-economic and legislative factors, young people tend to postpone marriage and consensual unions are becoming more frequent. The percentage of single people increased in the younger age groups, especially among those aged 25-29.

Men tend to marry later than women. In 2001 the percentage of married men under 35 was 85 % compared to 89 % in 1990. Mean-age at marriage has increased and in 2001 it reached 29.3 years for men and 25.7 for women; up 2.4 and 2.0 years compared with 1990. Mean-age at first marriage was 27.2 years for men and 23.9 years for women; up about 2.0 years compared to 1990. This confirms that young people tend to postpone their first marriage.

In 2001, 31 100 divorces were registered, or 1.39 divorces per 1000 inhabitants – the lowest value in the last five years. The divorce rate level, which is relatively low compared with other European countries, indicates a relative stability of the family in Romanian society. The social and economic changes in the last couple of years have not influenced this demographic phenomenon in any significant way.

Young generations tend to divorce faster. Compared to 1990, most of the young age groups registered an increased divorce rate, especially among those under 20. As in previous years, the highest frequency of divorces was recorded among women and men aged 30-34 years. 94 % of the total number of divorces were first divorces.

The mean-age at divorce was 37.6 years for men and 34.3 years for women, slightly up against previous years. The average duration of a marriage ending in divorce was 11.9 years which is 1.7 years higher than in 1990. For childless marriages, the highest frequency of divorces was registered after one year of marriage, and, for couples with one child, after 4 years of marriage. Infidelity remained the main cause of divorce (11.4 %), followed by alcoholism (9.2 %) and physical violence (7.3 %). Men were 4 times more likely to cause divorce than women.

Fertility
220 400 children were born in 2001 which is 14 200 less than in 2000. The specific crude birth rate of young women (under 20) decreased. Nevertheless, mothers in this age group gave birth to one-third of all children born outside marriage. Most of the newborn were born to women aged 20-24 years.

In 2001, the mean-age of women at first birth was 23.9 years, 0.2 years more than in 2000. Mean-age at childbirth was 25.8 years, 0.3 years more than in 2000. The fertility rate, 37.8 live births per 1000 women (aged 15-49), is one of the lowest values in recent decades.

The decreasing number of women in the most fertile age group partially explains this evolution. In recent years the share of women of fertile age (15-49 years) has been constant around 50.7 %, but the share of women in the most fertile age group (20-29 years) increased from 31.7 % in 2000 to 31.8 % in 2001. For women aged 20-24, though still being the age group with the highest fertility rate, the fertility rate fell from 90.2 ‰ in 2000 to 82.2 ‰ in 2001.

Mortality

259 600 deaths were registered in 2001, 3 800 more than in 2000. The crude death rate increased from 11.4 ‰ to 11.6 ‰. Mortality is still at a high level in the European context.

Almost two-thirds of registered deaths of young people (up to 15) took place during the first four years of life, and over 84 % of them during the first year of life. The share of deaths of those aged 65 and over was two-thirds the total number of deaths. The phenomenon “male over-mortality” is present in all age groups. Men’s crude death rate in the age group 15-64 is more than twice as high as for women. Mean-age at death for men is 7.2 years lower than for women.

In the last decade, the most frequent causes of death were diseases of circulatory system (ischaemic disease and cerebral-vascular diseases) and neoplasms which together accounted for 78 % of the total number of deaths, slightly up against previous year. The increase in deaths due to these diseases is the primary reason for the increase in mortality since 1990. Other important death causes that increased during the 1990s were infectious and parasitic diseases, up by 25 %, and diseases of the digestive system up by 42 %. On the positive side, in 2001 deaths due to diseases of the respiratory system fell (both in total and by gender) by 35 %. Men die more often from tuberculosis, traumatic lesions and poisonings, infectious and parasitic diseases, and mental and behaviour disorders. Female mortality rates exceeded male mortality rates in diseases of the circulatory system (especially cerebral-vascular diseases), endocrine, nutrition and metabolism diseases.

Since 1998, as a result of adopting more efficient measures of family planning, maternal mortality rates decreased: in 1990 the number of deaths due to abortion was 2.2 times higher than for obstetrics, whilst in 2001 the number of deaths due to obstetrics exceeded those due to abortion. However, the mortality rate related to abortion is still high.

For the period 1999-2001, life expectancy at birth was 71.19 years. Women’s life expectancy exceeded men’s by 7.15 years, which is less than in the previous period. Between 1990 and 1997 men’s life expectancy fell, but from 1998 it has started to increase slightly. Life expectancy for women has constantly increased, except between 1994 and 1997. The value registered during 1999-2001 represented the highest level of the last four decades and half. The most significant differences in life expectancy by sex were registered in the 5-15 age group and the smallest differences among those aged 35 and over.

Some variation in men’s survival probabilities for those aged 40 and over could be attributed to stress, standard of living, work-place security, unhealthy food, environmental pollution, alcohol and tobacco consumption.

Migration

Triggered by the political and social reforms of 1989, the removal of restrictive regulations concerning free circulation between countries resulted in a peak in international migration in 1990. Between 1992-2001, emigration decreased. However, net migration, although falling, was negative prior to 2000. In 2001, for the first time after 1989, net migration has been positive (429). Accordingly, the net migration rate fell from -1.29 ‰ in 1992 to +0.13 ‰ in 2001. In 2001 90.1 % of those leaving the country were Romanian, 1.4 % German and 6.5 % Hungarian. 68.3 % of the emigrants in 2001 were women (68.2 % in 2000). The share of emigrants aged 20-34 years increased and for those aged 50 and over decreased. Most of the legal emigrants were highly trained and qualified people.

Demographic projections

The last projection was carried out in June 2000 by the National Institute of Statistics “Projection of population at territorial level and main trends of demographic evolution during 1999-2020”, (constant variant). It is expected that during the period 1999-2020 the population will decrease by about 1.8 million. The fall will be moderate up to 2010 with a negative average yearly rate of 1.8 ‰ and after this time it will accelerate. The difference in the proportion of men and women will increase slightly: in 2020 women will represent 51.4 % of the population, compared with 51.1 % in 1999. For both sexes, the most significant fall will be registered in the 10-24 age group. The 35-60 age group will grow slightly. Although there are less men than women in this age group, their share will grow compared to 1999. The ageing of the population will continue and become more pronounced over time. As a result of a lower dependency ratio of young people, the demographic dependency ratio will fall from 46.6 % (1999) to 42.6 % (2020). The social and economic effects of the ageing process will become visible after 2005 when the population in the working age groups (15-49 years) will start to include the much smaller generations born after 1990.

Download the country tables here (archived, in zip format). Each national report includes the following tables (if available):

Table 1: Population by sex and age

Table 2: Births, deaths and legal abortions

Table 3: Sum, by five-year age group, of age-specific fertility rates (age in completed years), total fertility rate and mean age of women at childbirth

Table 4: Sum, by five-year age group, of female first marriage rates (age in completed years), total female first marriage rate and mean age at female first marriage. Total divorce rate

Table 5: Live births by order

Table 6: International migration

Table 7: Population of foreign citizenship

Table 8: Population change, natural increase and net migration

Table 9: Longitudinal data on fertility and female first marriage

Table 10: Life expectancy at certain ages