Romania lost over 10,100 people only due to the natural decline in February (the number of live births minus number of deaths), according to data from the National Statistics Institute (INS).

A total of 12,691 babies were born in February, 4,437 fewer than the month before, while the number of deaths went down by 795 month-on-month, to 22,828. This means that the natural decline reached 10,137 in February 2018, compared to 9,693 in the same month of 2017.

In 2017, Romania lost slightly over 69,200 people, the statistics showed.

According to a UN report released in January this year, Romania is among a group of several Eastern Europe countries that are set to experience a decline of over 15% in their population by 2050. The country is expected to see its population shrink by 17% between 2017 and 2050 to a projected 16.3 million.

Irina Marica, irina.marica@romania-insider.com