A study by the National Statistics Institute (INS) revealed that about 100,000 children in Romania had one or both parents out of the country and working abroad at the end of 2017.

However, the situation could be worse, as the data on which the study is based are incomplete, local Wall-street.ro reported. INS used data provided by the County Centers for Resource and Educational Assistance (CJRAE) but only 31 out of 42 centers provided data.

The INS study found that 94,896 children in Romania had one or both parents out of the country at the end of 2017, with 17,425 children having both parents working outside the country.

Based on regions, data from June 2017 showed that the North-East region is the most affected, a total of 31,576 children here having one or both parents out of the country. Most of the children are from the counties of Suceava (9.097), Iasi (5,529), Bacau (5,165) and Neamt (4,636). Next is the South-East region with 16,035 children.

For the study, INS also took into account administrative data. These data provided by the National Authority for Child Protection and Adoption (ANPDCA) showed that about 95,000 children had parents working abroad. Of these, under a fifth came from families where both parents were out of the country. Most of them were in the care of relatives up to grade IV, without protection.

Most of the children with one or both parents abroad for a period of at least 6 months are aged between 6 and 14 years (60.2% in 2016 and 61.2% in 2017). The share of children aged 15-17 was 20.6% in 2016 and 18.4% in 2017, and that of pre-school children (under 6 years) - 19.2% in 2016 and 20.4% in 2017.

The Labor Inspection said in August this year that employment agencies helped over 19,000 Romanians find jobs abroad in the first half of this year, with Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Spain and UK being the preferred destinations.

Over 6,500 Romanian teachers left the country to work abroad

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