The RomanianAlphabetin 26 (?) issues

Alcohol

World champions in drinking

17.0litres of pure alcohol per person, per year

In 2019, the average Romanian drank 17 litres of pure alcohol, roughly 18 beers a week, every week of the year. It is the highest per-capita consumption in the world, according to WHO data. And 35% of Romanians report heavy drinking at least once a month, nearly double the European average.

#1 of 190 countries (per-capita consumption)

Sources: ^{[1] [2]}

Old-growth forest area

Europe's last great forest, sold as scrap

20million cubic metres of timber cut each year beyond the legal volume

Romania shelters most of the European Union's remaining old-growth forest: 218,500 inventoried hectares. At the same time, the National Forest Inventory estimates that 20 million cubic metres are cut each year beyond the legal volume. That is one truck of timber every 30 seconds, day and night.

Most old-growth forest in the EU: 218,500 ha

Sources: ^[3]

Churches

31 churches for every hospital

18,300churches in Romania, against 580 hospitals

In 2019, Romania counted 18,300 churches and 580 hospitals. For comparison: 4,000 schools, 1,500 high schools, 760 museums and 90 cinemas. Since 1989, thousands of new places of worship have been built, many with public money, while the state has not opened a single new public hospital (see letter Z).

Sources: ^[4]

C-sections

One birth in two, by scalpel

51.4%of births in Romania are delivered by caesarean

In 2023, 51.4% of Romanian babies were born by caesarean section, one of the highest rates in Europe. The World Health Organization considers 10-15% the optimal range. Romania crossed that threshold back in 2010 and the curve has climbed ever since.

Sources: ^{[5] [6]}

Diaspora

The second Romania, on foreign passports

3.1million Romanians live legally in other EU states

Romanians form the largest group of emigrants in the Union: 3.1 million in other member states, 22% of the total, double the Italian or Polish figures. UN estimates rise to 4.5 million worldwide. Gathered in one place, the diaspora would be Romania's second country, the size of two Bucharests.

#1 in the EU: 22% of all intra-European emigrants

Sources: ^{[7] [8]}

Tax evasion

The VAT that never reaches the state

30.0%of collectible VAT is lost along the way

Romania has the largest VAT gap in the European Union: 30% of what the state should collect evaporates between the receipt and the budget, the European Commission's report for 2023 shows. In money, that means billions of euros a year, enough to cover a major ministry's deficit several times over.

#1 in the EU for the VAT gap (2023)

Sources: ^[9]

Health funding

The least money spent on a European body

858euros per person Romania spent on healthcare in 2022

Last place in the EU for healthcare spending per person: 858 euros, against a European average of 3,685 and Luxembourg's 6,590, which is 7.7 times more. The paradox: Romania has some of the most hospital beds in the EU, 731 per 100,000 people.

#27 of 27 for per-person health spending

Sources: ^{[10] [2]}

Waste

We recycle about one eighth of our waste

12%of Romania's municipal waste is recycled

Only 12% of municipal waste was recycled in 2022, last place in the EU and far from the 49% average. The rest goes almost entirely to landfill: 74% dumped directly. The European target for 2025 is 55%, and Romania is a third of the way there.

#27 of 27 in recycling

Sources: ^[11]

Gay people

The worst EU state for LGBTI rights

19%Romania's score in Rainbow Map 2026 (ILGA-Europe)

With 19 points out of 100, Romania is the lowest-ranked EU member state on the map of LGBTI rights: 42nd of 49 European countries. No civil partnership, no full protection against hate speech, no legal gender recognition.

42nd of 49 in Europe; last among EU member states

Sources: ^[12]

Internet

Fibre-speed cables, paper-speed people

27.7%of Romanians have basic digital skills

Romania has one of the best fibre infrastructures in the EU, with very-high-capacity network coverage above the European average. And yet only 27.7% of Romanians have basic digital skills: last place in the Union, at half the 55.6% average.

#27 of 27 in digital skills

Sources: ^[13]

Education

Education gets the leftovers of the leftovers

2.9%of GDP went to education in 2022

2.9% of GDP for education: the smallest share in the EU, against a European average of 4.6%. The law demands 6%. The yearly difference is roughly the budget of a whole ministry that is not called Education.

#27 of 27 in education funding

Sources: ^[14]

Gambling

96 billion lei riding on a feeling

96billion lei wagered in 2024, roughly 19 billion euros

Romanians wagered more than 96 billion lei on gambling in 2024, the Court of Accounts audit shows. Around 1.1 million active players and 464 licensed companies. The same Court found a fiscal risk of 3.1-3.6 billion lei, because the watchdog simply never audited the online operators.

1.1 million active players, 464 licensed companies

Sources: ^{[15] [16]}

Motorway kilometres

1,416 km of motorway, 77 deaths per million

1,416kilometres of motorway open at the end of 2025

Romania's entire motorway network equals the distance from Bucharest to Vienna. And because the remaining roads are crowded and dangerous: 77 deaths per million people in 2024, the highest rate in the EU, against a European average of 45.

#1 in the EU for road mortality

Sources: ^{[17] [18]}

Housing

Champions of overcrowding

40.7%of Romanians live in overcrowded homes

The highest housing overcrowding rate in the EU: 40.7% in 2024, against a European average of 16.9%. Romania is also the champion of private ownership: over 95% of residents own the home they live in. We have houses, we do not have space.

#1 in the EU for overcrowded housing

Sources: ^[19]

Infant mortality

5.5 babies in a thousand never turn one

5.5infant deaths per 1,000 live births

The highest infant mortality rate in the EU: 5.5 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2022, nearly double the 3.3 average. In Estonia the rate is below 2. There is progress, but the gap with the rest of Europe is as wide as it was two decades ago.

#1 in the EU for infant mortality

Sources: ^[20]

Births

The smallest generation since 1930

145,669children were born in Romania in 2025

The smallest number of births in nearly a century: 145,669 in 2025, according to the National Institute of Statistics. In 1990 there were 314,746 births, at the 1967 peak there were 527,764. The decline from the peak exceeds 70%.

Sources: ^[21]

Organs

3.4 donors for every million people

3.4organ donors per million people

Second-to-last in the EU for organ donation: 3.4 donors per million people in 2020. Spain, the world leader, has 47. Every point of difference means lives lost on waiting lists that here end too early far too often.

#26 of 27 in organ donation

Sources: ^[22]

Population

One million Romanians erased from the picture

−1.07million residents lost between the 2011 and 2021 censuses

From 20.12 million in 2011 to 19.05 million in 2021: Romania lost, in one decade, the equivalent of its second-largest city. And the decline is accelerating, from two directions that add up: fewer births (letter N) and more departures (letter D).

Sources: ^[23]

Poverty risk

One Romanian in four, at the edge of the cliff

27.9%of Romanians were at risk of poverty or social exclusion in 2024

The second-highest rate in the EU after Bulgaria, far from the 21% average. In 2023 Romania was actually first, at 32%. Poverty here is also concentrated: in the Bucharest-Ilfov region the risk was 12.3%, while half the country exceeds a third.

#2 in the EU, after Bulgaria (30.3%)

Sources: ^[24]

Life expectancy

Seven years stolen from the ending

76.6years of life a Romanian born now can expect

Among the lowest life expectancies in the EU: 76.6 years in 2024, against a European average of 81.7. A Spaniard lives 84. The gap to Europe's leaders is more than seven years, roughly a quarter of a generation.

Sources: ^{[25] [2]}

Bribes

The second health insurer works by envelope

18%of Romanians gave money or gifts to medical staff, on top of the official cost

In 2022, 18% of Romanians admitted to an informal payment to doctors or nurses: the highest share in the EU, against a 4% average. In the country with the least public money per patient, the envelope works as a second health insurer.

#1 in the EU for informal health payments

Sources: ^[2]

NEET youth

One young person in five, out of the game

19.2%of 15-29 year-olds neither work nor study

The highest NEET rate in the EU in 2025: 19.2%, against a European average of 11% and a low of 5.3% in the Netherlands. Nearly a million young Romanians sit outside both work and school, precisely in the years that should be their most productive.

#1 in the EU for NEET youth

Sources: ^[26]

Peasants

Europe's last peasant country

32.6%of all European Union farms are in Romania

2.9 million farms, twice as many as any other European country. Together they produce just 3.7% of the EU's agricultural output. The average Romanian farm spans some 4.4 hectares, against a European average of 17.8.

#1 in the EU for number of farms

Sources: ^[27]

Shadow

The second economy, the invisible one

29%of GDP is Romania's shadow economy

One leu in three moves without a receipt and without a contract: the shadow economy is estimated at 29% of GDP in 2022, among the largest in the EU, against an average of about 17%. This is where the VAT gap from letter E begins.

Sources: ^[28]

Holiday

Three quarters of the country go nowhere

27.7%of Romanians took even one tourism trip in 2024

Last place in the EU for tourism participation: 27.7%, against an average of 65.4% and a high of 83.6% in the Netherlands. For most Romanians, time off goes to errands, and a real holiday remains a project to be planned for years.

#27 of 27 in holidays

Sources: ^[29]

X (the unknown)

Half the pupils cannot find it

49%of 15 year-olds fall below the minimum level in maths

In PISA 2022, 49% of Romanian 15 year-olds failed to reach the minimum level in mathematics, about double the OECD average. Meaning one in two pupils cannot compare two routes on a map, convert a currency or check whether the change they got is right.

Sources: ^[30]

Zero

Zero new hospitals in a generation

0new public hospitals built by the state since the fall of communism

In over three decades of capitalism, the Romanian state has not built a single new public hospital from the ground up, Al Jazeera noted in a report on the system in crisis. Over the same period, public hospital beds fell by 40%: from 207,001 in 1990 to 125,034 in 2018.

Sources: ^{[31] [32]}