At most 196,000 Romanians returned home in 2020, out of which 83% are temporary migrants, according to the statistics office INS, Economica.net reported. The figure contrasts with the 1-1.3 million Romanians that allegedly came back home during the pandemic, estimated by Government officials.

Prime minister Florin Citu, quoting reports of Financial Times and The Economist, claimed that over a million Romanians returned to the country, brought back by the pandemic.

"The study says that they returned voluntarily (1.3 million Romanians e.n.) because they found a job in Romania, and the study is also presented by the Financial Times. It is clear that those who returned found opportunities in Romania, especially in the IT," former prime minister Florin Cîţu stated in March this year.

A month later, the data of the mysterious study were also quoted by the Minister of Labor, Raluca Turcan, who declared that "about a million Romanians returned to the country due to the pandemic."

According to data published by the National Institute of Statistics (INS), last year approximately 163,800 people "settled temporarily" in the country (part of them are Romanians who move between Romania and another country seeking employment) and 32,250 Romanians returned to the country. It turns out that approximately 196,000 Romanians chose last year to return home, the smallest number since 2016.

andrei@romania-insider.com

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