Life in Romania’s poorest region: Thief breaks into the village shop, steals debtors’ list

An unknown felon recently broke into a small village shop in Vaslui county and stole the list of debtors. No other goods seemed to be missing from the shop. “When I came to the shop this morning, I saw that someone had broken in and the only thing missing from the inside was the notebook with the debtors’ names,” the shop keeper said, according to Agerpres. The shop’s owners didn’t report the theft to the police, as the law doesn’t allow local shops to sell products on credit. However, this practice is widespread in Romania’s villages where many shops sell on credit and keep unofficial books with the debtors. People usually pay their debts when they cash in their paychecks, pensions or social benefits. Vaslui is one of Romania’s poorest counties and has one of the highest unemployment rates. Some 25,000 people in Vaslui live off welfare, and 3,000 others get unemployment benefits. There are just 55,000 people employed in the county, 2,400 of whom work for the Social Assistance Department, according to Digi 24. Vaslui is part of Romania’s North-East region, which is one of the poorest in the European Union. The GDP per capita in this region is only a third (34%) of the EU average. Five regions in Romania, among the poorest in the EU editor@romania-insider.com