WB: 2.77 Million Romanians, 13.3% Of Population, Have Emigrated

According to the World Bank, most Romanians emigrated to Italy, Spain, Hungary, Israel, USA, Germany, Canada, Austria, France and the UK.

„On the short term, it is hard to foresee an increase in the number of emigrants because opportunities abroad have disappeared. In the long run, namely in 10 -15 years, I expect emigration numbers to drop substantially as Romania converges toward Europa,” said Catalin Pauna, chief economist with the World Bank in Romania.

He said the dynamics of Romania’s gross domestic product at purchasing power parity has seen significant improvement over the past ten years and the convergence process toward the EU average will continue after the crisis.

„If we continue to evolve at this rate, we’ll reach a threshold beyond which emigration is no longer profitable for Romanian. In 10-15 years we’ll have much bigger wages than now,” said Pauna.

Speaking about the migration of doctors and, generally, trained staff, Pauna said it is unrealistic to think wages on this employment segment in Romania would be quick to catch up with those in Western Europe. He said an alternative to highly trained workers leaving the country would be to offer more spots for such jobs in the education system.

On the other hand, the number of immigrants in Romania amounts to 132,800 people, over half of which are women. The main countries of origin for immigrants in Romania are Moldova, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Russia, Syria, Hungary, Greece, Turkey, Italy and Germany.