Share of population living below national poverty lines in Romania
Romania: Share of population living below national poverty lines was 19.0% in 2023. ▼ Falling
Share of population living below national poverty lines in Romania, 2006–2023
Source: World Bank Poverty and Inequality Platform (2026) – processed by Our World in Data. Measured in % of population.
Analysis
Romania recorded 19.0% for share of population living below national poverty lines in 2023. That is the lowest value across all 18 years on record.
The figure is down 10.0% on the previous year and down 24.3% over ten years.
Over the whole period, share of population living below national poverty lines in Romania peaked at 25.4% in 2014 and was at its lowest, 19.0%, in 2023.
That places Romania 33rd out of 70 countries with data for 2023, putting it in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 18 years of available data.
Share of population living below national poverty lines in Romania, year by year
| Year | % of population | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2006 | 24.6% | — |
| 2007 | 23.6% | -4.1% |
| 2008 | 22.1% | -6.4% |
| 2009 | 21.6% | -2.3% |
| 2010 | 22.3% | +3.2% |
| 2011 | 22.9% | +2.7% |
| 2012 | 23.0% | +0.4% |
| 2013 | 25.1% | +9.1% |
| 2014 | 25.4% | +1.2% |
| 2015 | 25.3% | -0.4% |
| 2016 | 23.6% | -6.7% |
| 2017 | 23.5% | -0.4% |
| 2018 | 23.8% | +1.3% |
| 2019 | 23.4% | -1.7% |
| 2020 | 22.5% | -3.8% |
| 2021 | 21.2% | -5.8% |
| 2022 | 21.1% | -0.5% |
| 2023 | 19.0% | -10.0% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 23.0% | 21.6% | 24.6% | 4 |
| 2010s | 23.8% | 22.3% | 25.4% | 10 |
| 2020s | 20.9% | 19.0% | 22.5% | 4 |
Countries ranked near Romania
More poverty & inequality data for Romania
- Number of income/consumption surveys in the past decade available via the World Bank 8 surveys (2025)
- Number of income/consumption surveys in the past decade available via 0 surveys per person (2025)
- Number of income/consumption surveys in the past decade available via 0 surveys per US$ of GDP (2025)
- Fertility rate vs. share living in extreme poverty 1.71 live births per woman (2023)
- Cereal yield vs. share in extreme poverty 4,021 kg per hectare (2023)
- Cereal yield vs extreme poverty, per unit of GDP 0 units per US$ of GDP (2023)
- Cereal yield vs extreme poverty, annual growth rate 10.64 % change on previous year (2023)
- Tax revenues vs income inequality, gaps filled 27.54 (2022)
- Tax revenue as share of GDP vs. income inequality 27.5% (2022)
- Tax revenues vs income inequality, per unit of GDP 0 units per US$ of GDP (2022)
Frequently asked questions
- What is share of population living below national poverty lines in Romania?
- Share of population living below national poverty lines in Romania was 19.0% in 2023, according to World Bank Poverty and Inequality Platform (2026) – processed by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest share of population living below national poverty lines recorded in Romania?
- The highest recorded value was 25.4% in 2014.
- What is the lowest share of population living below national poverty lines recorded in Romania?
- The lowest recorded value was 19.0% in 2023.
- How does Romania rank for share of population living below national poverty lines?
- Romania ranks 33rd out of 70 countries with data for 2023.
- Is share of population living below national poverty lines rising or falling in Romania?
- Over the last ten years it is down 24.3%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this Romania data come from?
- The figures come from World Bank Poverty and Inequality Platform (2026) – processed by Our World in Data, published as part of Share of population living below national poverty lines. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 18 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
About this data
National poverty headcount ratio is the percentage of the population living below the national poverty lines. National estimates are based on population-weighted subgroup estimates from household surveys.