Romania’s resident population counted for 19.318 million as of 1 January 2020, down by 96,500 compared to 1 January 2019, with a visible deepening of the demographic ageing phenomenon, a release by the National Statistics Institute (INS) reads.

According to the INS, the main cause of this decrease is the negative natural growth (the number of deceased persons exceeding the number of live births by 73,630). The female population was the majority, comprising 9.872 million and representing 51.1 pct of the total resident population.

“The demographic ageing process has deepened, compared to 1 January 2019, with an increase in the share of the elderly population (65 years and older). The share of the population aged 0-14 in total population decreased by 0.1 percentage points (from 15.7 pct in 2019 to 15.6 pct on 1 January 2020), while the share of the population aged 65 and over in the total increased by 0.5 percentage points (from 18.5 pct in 2019 to 19 pct on 1 January 2020). Thus, the demographic dependency ratio increased from 52 (as of 1 January 2019) to 52.9 young and elderly persons per 100 adults (as of 1 January 2020),” the release adds.

According to the source, Romania continues to be an emigration country, the phenomenon of emigration being the second reason for the curtailment of the country’s population. The balance of international migration in 2019 was negative, with the number of migrants exceeding the number of immigrants by almost 31,000. During 2019, men emigrated in a greater proportion than women (54.3 pct) and among immigrants, men were also the majority (53.7 pct).

The resident population comprises all persons (Romanian, foreign or non-citizen) who have their usual residence in Romania for a period of at least 12 months. 

Via Agerpres