Over 40% of Romanians believe that now, 25 years after the fall of communism in the country, life in Romania is worse than before 1989, according to a recent INSCOP survey. Almost 33% think that life is now better in Romania than in the communist era and 17.2% believe that things are similar.

Analysts say that these figures don’t show that Romanians are attached to communism, or to its ideology and values. “It’s more about functional aspects, which are perceived as having worked better then than they are  now, most of them revolving around the idea of safety and predictability for the day to day living,” said Darie Cristea, project coordinator for Inscop.

Based on age categories, 30.7% of those aged under 30, 40% of those aged between 31 and 50 and 45.8% of those aged over 50 believe that life is worse now, compared to life before the revolution in 1989.

Over half of Romanians think that life will be better 25 years from now, while 12% believe it will be worse.

The areas Romanians believe are working better now than before 1989 are the public transport (63.4% think this sector is doing better now), tourism (56.5%), defense of the country (56.4%), foreign policy (54.3%), justice (49.9%) and public administration (45.6%).

On the other hand, the sectors Romanians believe are doing worse now are health, public order, education, agriculture and industry.

The survey also reveals that almost 82% of Romanians agree that now, 25 years after the revolution, Romania is a more free country (14.5% disagree), 45.9% think that Romania is now a more united country (46.5% don’t think so), while 44.7% see it as a safer country than in the communist era (48.5% don’t agree).

The survey was conducted by INSCOP between November 27 and December 2, at the request of Adevarul newspaper.

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

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