Romania registered the steepest decrease in population in 2020 (-0.7% to 19.2 mln) - the year when the EU has reported the highest number of deaths in the last 60 years.

Twenty years earlier, Romania’s population was 22.4 mln. The steepest decline was in 2008 compared to 2007, when the population dropped by 0.5 mln as the country joined the European Union and Romanians received the right to travel (yet not legally work) abroad.

According to Eurostat, EU countries recorded 534,000 more deaths than in 2019 (an increase of 11%), from 4.7 to 5.2 million, and the data reflect the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, Biziday.ro reported.

In Romania (according to local data), the number of deaths rose by 14% YoY in 2020, and the age distribution suggests Covid had a significant impact: the number of fatalities for the age group 70-74 years rose by 28% YoY. At the same time, Romania has a natality problem: the number of newborns decreased by 20% YoY in 2020, and Covid was not the main cause.

Excess mortality has contributed to a slight decrease in Europe’s population, for the first time in the past decades, from 447.3 million inhabitants to 447 million inhabitants.

andrei@romania-insider.com

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