Survey reveals Romanians’ views of minorities, religion, social issues

Similar to respondents in countries in Central and Eastern Europe, Romanians are less accepting of Muslims, same-sex marriage, and legal abortion, a series of surveys conducted by Pew Research Center revealed. A total of 29% of Romanians would be willing to accept Muslims as members of their family. In Bulgaria, 32% of those surveyed would do the same, in Moldova 30%, while in Hungary 21% would accept them. A total of 39% of the Romanian respondents said they would be willing to accept Jews as members of their family. In nearly every Central and Eastern European country polled, fewer than half of adults said they would be willing to accept Muslims into their family. By contrast, in nearly every Western European country surveyed, more than half said they would accept a Muslim into their family. At the same time, 74% of the Romanian respondents said it is very or somewhat important to be a Christian to truly share their national identity. This is in line with attitudes in other Eastern European countries where being a Christian (whether Catholic or Orthodox) is an important component of the national identity. More than half of Romanians (66%) view the national culture as superior to others and completely or mostly agree with the statement “Our people are not perfect but our culture is superior to others.” In Bulgaria, 69% agreed with the statement, in Bosnia 68%, in Serbia 65%, in Russia 69% and in Greece 89%. In contrast, only 20% agreed with the statement in Spain, 26% in Sweden and 23% in Belgium and Estonia. The same survey showed that 74% of Romanians oppose same-sex marriage, similar to 70% in Greece, 71% in Estonia, 79% in Bulgaria, and 92% in Moldova. At the opposite end, 88% of Swedish citizens are in favor of same-sex marriage, followed by 86% in Denmark, 86% in the Netherlands, 82% in Belgium, and 77% in Spain and UK. A referendum held in Romania this October, aimed at changing the Constitution and banning same-sex marriages, recorded a very low turnout and was invalidated. When it comes to support for legal abortion, 58% of the Romanian respondents said abortion should be legal in all or most cases, while 40% were of the opinion that it should be illegal. The Central and Eastern European countries that favor legal abortion are the Czech Republic (84%), Estonia (81%) and Bulgaria (80%). A total of 98% of the Romanian respondents declare themselves Christians, while 50% said religion was important in their lives and that they attend religious services at least monthly, and 44% that they pray daily. The surveys were conducted by Pew Research Center between 2015 and 2017 among nearly 56,000 adults (ages 18 and older) in 34 Western, Central and Eastern European countries. The results of the surveys are available