Urbanization in Romania 2023
This statistic shows the degree of urbanization in Romania from 2013 to 2023. Urbanization means the share of urban population in the total population of a country. In 2023, 54.67 percent of Romania's total population lived in urban areas and cities.
The shrinking population of Romania
About half of Romania's population lives in urban areas, with the largest city and capital Bucharest only having about 1.9 million inhabitants - not very much considering that Romania reported a population of about 20 million people in 2015. Bucharest is also significantly larger than any of the other small cities around the country, which only have close to or less than 300,000 inhabitants each.
The fact that Romania has not urbanized to the same level of most developed countries is an indicator that the country is still developing. As Romania progresses, it has an important advantage over other developing nations: It is a member of the European Union, and thus has access to the European market. However, unlike other developing countries, the Romanian population is decreasing and expected to shrink by more than half a million by 2020. This is caused by a low fertility rate, which is less than the replacement rate, by emigration and by an aging population. The median age of the Romanian population is expected to increase to as high as 44 years in 2020. A contributing factor to this may be the fact that while the older generation stays in Romania, the younger people migrate to other countries within the European Union which have stronger economies and more employment opportunities than Romania.
