Romania

Rural Deprivation

Based on a human development index developed for rural areas, a World Bank report determines that poverty follows a strong spatial pattern, concentrated in the eastern provinces and also spread as pockets throughout the rest of the country. Poverty enclaves are typically isolated in outlaying areas away from town or city centers, with limited road networks. On average, central villages had an index 30 percent higher than found for outlying villages, with central villages located close to cities on hillsides showing the highest level of development.

Poverty also shows a very strong ethnic pattern. The Romanian Roma (Gypsy) population is estimated at 2.5 million, the largest in eastern Europe. Poverty rates for the Roma have been estimated to be 10 times greater than those for other groups. Roma poverty also serves to reinforce negative stereotypes and discrimination.

Poverty is daunting because formal social networks, such as private professional organizations, usually exclude the poor and tend to help transfer income to their own, wealthier, members. The dislocation experienced by the poor since 1989 has also tended to disrupt their informal networks; hence the poor have less trust in neighbors and people in general and have little access to problem solvers and means of informal assistance.

In cooperation with the United Nations, the European Union, other international donor organizations, and domestic and international nongovernmental organizations, the Romanian government seeks to reduce poverty by various means. These efforts include the development of business and technology incubators throughout the country and enhanced access to information technology systems for disadvantaged youth.

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