Country profile
ROMANIA Entering the European Union has been the principle landmark event as of January 1st 2007 in Romania. Accession, especially the associated reforms are bringing forth significant positive change across all sectors and domains in Romania. Nevertheless, social restructuring and systemic reforms are still works in progress, with significant gaps in social sectors. Romania is experiencing a healthy economic growth, with an average of some 5.5% in the past four years, driven by productivity gains, innovation, a better allocation of resources and occasionally, excess demand, as pointed by a 2007 World Bank report. Macroeconomic gains are creating a stronger middle class and are addressing Romania’s widespread poverty, which continues to be considerably high (with rural poverty double that of urban poverty). The poverty rate among children is particularly high at 25% (more than 1 million) with 8% (over 350,000) living in severe poverty. Poverty among Roma children is three times higher than among the majority population. Low levels of labour participation and employment, large rural sector, widening disparities between regions and high poverty represent significant bottlenecks to the filtering down of economic growth to vulnerable social groups. Combined with these social dimensions, important and persistent rigidities in the economic and social structures represent key challenges to welfare improvements for the vulnerable populations. The 2006 UNICEF Situation Analysis highlighted considerable gaps and new challenges regarding the realization of the rights of vulnerable, excluded and discriminated children in Romania. There are still children, especially adolescents, living and/or working on the streets as well as children victims of trafficking, although Romania is increasingly becoming a transit rather than a source country. The juvenile justice system still struggles with ensuring the rights of children in conflict with the law including the lack of special facilities for pre-trial detention. Children with disabilities, children with HIV/AIDS and Roma children are still victims of stigma and discrimination. The rights of children with mental disabilities living in public institutions are still not fully met. In parallel, Roma children from poor and rural areas are more likely than other children to be abandoned, institutionalized, and to drop out of school and to later be found on the streets. Furthermore, there are emerging issues such as the potential negative impact on poor rural families of the agricultural reform as well as the negative impact on children left behind by parents migrating to other countries in search of better job opportunities. The weaknesses in preventive and integrated community based services combined with weak family care practices as well as changing social norms and values have resulted in these manifestations. Download the Situation Analysis of Children in Romania [PDF]
Many of the vulnerable, excluded and discriminated groups of children are linked to the same causes.
Basic Indicators Infant mortality rate: 16 per 1,000 live births – 2005
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