Romania has climbed up three places in the third edition of the Prosperity Index compiled by Erste Group and the Legatum Institute, and is currently 45th out of 149 analyzed countries.

However, out of the 15 countries in the Central and Eastern European (CEE) region, Romania ranks 11th, and only Bulgaria ranks lower among the EU member states.

Romania needs huge investments to advance the value chain of the economy and to face the internal challenges: demography and emigration, geographical disparities and quality of life, Sergiu Manea, CEO of BCR - Erste Group said in the context of unveiling the report, local Ziarul Financiar reported. 

Prosperity has registered a slight increase in Romania in recent years, hence the advance of three positions, from the 48th place in 2016. Austria holds the best position in the region, ranking 15th worldwide, while Serbia ranks 56th, with the lowest indicator of prosperity in CEE.

Romania stands out with good scores for the sub-indicators “safety and security” (37th place), “business environment” and “education” (39th place each) but lags significantly behind more prosperous countries in terms of social capital (83rd place).

Notably, the “social capital” is the most problematic sub-indicator for the majority of countries in the region, when compared to the whole 149-country sample.

editor@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: ID 110201628 @ Sarayut Thaneerat/Dreamstime.com)