Income (status): The distribution of income shows strong spatial disparities. High incomes are concentrated in urbanised regions. In addition, one can find a spatial cluster of high income provinces in central Romania. The average income across all provinces is 3857 LEI. Income levels in Bucharest are by far the highest in the country (6057 LEI), while the lowest average income can be found in Bistrița-Năsăud (3365 LEI). Due to limited income opportunities most rural areas fall significantly behind the dynamic urban areas.
Income (development): The development (2014-2018) of income underlines the significant urban-rural disparities. Romania witnessed strong economic growth during the last few years, but at the same time an increase of spatial disparities. Rural and old industrial provinces such as Gorj show a rather low increase (+1400 LEI) whereas urban provinces such as Bucharest registered a strong increase (+2719 LEI). A pattern of strong income increase also appears in central Romania.
Life expectancy (status): There are significant disparities with spatial clustering of higher life expectancy in central Romania. In 2019 the average life expectancy in Romania amounted to 75.6 years with the highest expectancy in Valcea (80.8 years) and the lowest in Tulcea (73.7 years). Many regions in eastern and south-eastern Romania have a low life expectancy while a higher life expectancy can be found in urban regions, especially in central Romania.
Life expectancy (development): The development of life expectancy from 1990 to 2019 reveals strongly increasing disparities. On average the life expectancy increased by 6.2 years. The highest increase was registered in Valcea (+10.9 years), the lowest increase can be found in Tulcea (+4 years). Again there is a remarkable increase in urbanised regions such as Bucharest, Timiș or Cluj. A look at the map also exhibits significant disparities between western and eastern Romania. One exception is Constanţa, which showed the second highest increase (+8.6 years) since the end of the socialist era.
Family doctors (status): The distribution of doctors displays a strong disbalance between eastern and western Romania. The average number of family physicians per 100,000 inhabitants in Romania is 57.3. Bucharest leads the list of counties (99.2) while Ilfov (36.3) forms the bottom. Both can be interpreted as outliers because Ilfov is the surrounding region of Bucharest. The second places display the distribution more meaningful. The second highest number of family physicians can be found in Timis (84.7) which lies at the western border, and the second lowest share of family doctors was reported for Calarasi (39.9) in the east.
Tubercolosis cases (status):There are strong regional disparities. The highest numbers of tubercolosis cases per capita can be found in the southern and eastern border regions of Romania such as Teleorman (90.5) and Constanta (83.4). Low rates can be found in central Romania (Covasna, Bistrita-Nasaud, Sibiu) and particularly in Harghita (18.6).
Tubercolosis cases (development):While the number of tubercolosis cases per 100,000 inhabitants was declining all across the country, some provinces such as Timis (+10.3) and Vrancea (+10.1) registered significant increases. However, there are no clear spatial patterns.
Gender pay gap (status): Romania has one of the lowest gender pay gaps in the EU. On average, the income of women equals around 96.7% of men’s income. but there are significant regional disparities which are strongly related to the general economic development of a region. In less developed regions such as Vaslui (112%) or Botosani (111.6%) women usually earn higher incomes than men. In regions with a stronger degree of industrialization and/or urbanization, such as Ilfov (87.5%) and Prahova (92.2%), women have a lower income compared to men.