How many Romanians receive social care benefits?

Romania had a monthly average number of 4.3 million people who received social care benefits in 2014, according to a recent report issued by the Court of Auditors. However, there were also people who weren’t entitled to these benefits. These people damaged the state budget with more than RON 26 million (some EUR 5.8 million). Most of the social assistance recipients were children. A total of 3.7 million children received state allowance in 2014 (85% of the total of 4.3 million beneficiaries). Some 247,620 people received family allowance (6% of the total), 240,617 got social benefits in the form of guaranteed minimum income (social aid) – 5% of the total, and more than 173,000 people got child raising allowance (4% of the total). The public funds allocated for the social assistance system amounted to RON 8.1 billion in 2014 (some EUR 1.8 billion). Most of the money was paid for the child allowance (48% of the total) and for the child raising allowance (32% of the total). However, not all of those who benefited from social assistance were entitled to this money. For example, some of them received family allowances, social aids, and child raising allowances although they had other incomes. The Court of Auditors found that some RON 26 million (EUR 5.8 million) worth of social assistance benefits were wrongly granted in 2014. Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com