Romania’s population declines in 2024. Aging process intensifies

On January 1, 2025, the resident population stood at 19,036,031 people, a decrease of 31,545 compared with January 1, 2024.

The resident urban population was 9,768,000, down by 1.3% from January 1, 2024.

The female population was 9,777,000, down by 0.2% from the beginning of 2024.

Demographic aging has intensified, with the share of the elderly population (aged 65 and over) continuing its upward trend: up by 0.3 percentage points compared with January 1, 2024 (from 20.0% in 2024 to 20.3% on January 1, 2025).

The share of the population aged 0–14 in the total population decreased from 15.9% on January 1, 2024, to 15.6% on January 1, 2025.

The demographic aging index rose from 125.8 (on January 1, 2024) to 130.0 elderly persons per 100 young persons (on January 1, 2025).

The demographic dependency ratio remained at 56.1 young and elderly persons per 100 adults (on January 1, 2025).

The balance of international migration in 2024 was positive, with the number of immigrants exceeding the number of emigrants by 58,800.

“Thus, Romania continued to be a country of immigration. However, the balance of international migration, lower than in previous years, did not manage to offset the negative natural increase (-102,000 people). As a result, on January 1, 2025, Romania’s resident population was lower than on the same date of the previous year. During 2024, men accounted for the majority both among emigrants (57.6%) and among immigrants (58.3%),” INS reported.