The demographic aging has deepened in the last year in Romania, as the share of young people (0-14 years) registered a slight decrease and the share of the elderly population (65 years and over) increased by 0.3 percentage points, according to data from the National Statistics Institute (INS).

There were 269,000 more older people aged 65 and over than young people aged between 0 and 14. The demographic aging index thus increased from 105.8 (January 1, 2016) to 108.2 elderly per 100 young people (January 1, 2017).

The average age of the population was 41.1 years, 0.2 years higher than on January 1 last year. The median age also went up by 0.4 years, to 40.8 years.

On January 1, 2017 the 45-49 age group held the largest share in the total population, of 9%. In terms of gender, the share of this age group was higher among men – 9.3% than women – 8.8%.

Romania’s total population was 22.22 million on January 1, 2017, down from 22.24 million in January 2016. This also includes the Romanians living abroad who have their official domicile in Romania.

The statistics also shows that the female and the urban population are majority (51.2% and 56.3% respectively).

Romania’s population to decrease to 17 million in 2050

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com