The intention to emigrate among young people in Romania and other countries in Southeast Europe

More than half of young people in Romania want to emigrate to another country for more than six months, with 8% having a very strong desire to do so, 11% a strong desire, and 32% a moderate desire to emigrate, according to the Study on Young People in Southeast Europe, conducted by the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung.

The data was collected by Ipsos in 2024 through an online survey of a sample of 8,925 young people (aged 14-29), representative of 12 countries in Southeast Europe, including Romania. In general, young people in Southeast European countries express a high intention to emigrate (temporarily or permanently). Among these, a distinct group is made up of North Macedonia, Albania, and Turkey, where more than one in three young people express a (very) strong desire to emigrate. At the opposite end of the spectrum are Bulgaria, Romania, and Croatia, where, at the time of the survey, less than one in five young people expressed this desire.

In all the countries studied, respondents who express a strong or moderate desire to emigrate most often cite economic reasons: improving their standard of living, higher wages, or better employment opportunities. In the case of young people in Romania, half of those who intend to emigrate cite the desire to improve their standard of living (26%) or to have a better salary (24%) as their reason.

The fact that the motivation for emigration is predominantly economic is also evidenced by the fact that the intention to emigrate is more common among young people with a low self-perceived economic status. In Romania, 57% of young people who say that their money is only enough for the bare necessities (utility bills, food, clothing) express a strong desire to emigrate; among those who can afford to buy everything they need, the corresponding proportion is only 15%.

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The data used in the infographic was taken from “Youth Study. Southeast Europe 2024”, published by Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung https://library.fes.de/pdf-files/bueros/bukarest/21456.pdf

Data processing and text design: Mircea Kivu

Infographic: Pascalone Media SRL