Recent Demographic Development in Romania

Romania represents one of the middle-range European countries, both concerning its geographical surface (237.5 thousand square kilometres) and its number of inhabitants (22,581,862 people on 1 January 1997). Since 1990, similarly to the other countries of Eastern and Central Europe, Romania has been going through a transition from an authoritarian communist regime to a democratic society. It has been a period of large socio-economic changes, with definite consequences for a demographic development. The liberalisation of abortion and of the use of contraceptives, dismantling of the legal barriers for emigration and mobility within the country, the introduction of easier divorce procedures are only several of the factors with direct and immediate influence over the demographic phenomena. To all these should be added the profound changes in the way people live as a result of acquired access to Western mass culture and more and more frequent contacts with people of other countries.