Romania lost slightly over 69,200 people only due to the natural decline in 2017 (the number of live births minus number of deaths), according to data from the National Statistics Institute (INS).

More than 191,400 babies were born last year, the number being 5.8% lower than in the previous year, local News.ro reported. Meanwhile, the number of deaths increased by 1.3% year-on-year in 2017, to over 260,000.

In December 2017, the number of births decreased and the number of deaths increased compared to November, INS data shows. Thus, while 15,127 babies were born in December (192 fewer than in November 2017 and 839 fewer than in December 2016), the number of deaths increased by 1,431 month-on-month, to 23,146. This means that the natural decline reached 8,019 in the last month of last year, compared to 8,636 in December 2016.

A UN report released in January this year showed that 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