33.8% of children in Romania were at risk of poverty in 2024. In numbers, that means over a million. The data was collected by Eurostat and places us in the top three countries in Europe in this respect. In 2025, the number of children affected by shortcomings could increase, warns Roxana Paraschiv, coordinator of the Center for Information and Documentation on Children’s Rights, within “Save the Children”. And the effects will be felt in the long term, if no action is taken.First of all, Romania should recognize its problem”says sociologist Ciprian Necula.
PHOTO Cristian Munteanu
The risk of poverty, a real problem in Europe
Bulgaria (35.1%) and Spain (34.6%) are at the top of the European Union countries with the highest risk of poverty for children, and Romania is in third place.
“Child poverty in Europe remains a widespread, persistent and profoundly unjust reality. Across the continent, the high number of children growing up in poverty reflects not so much a lack of solutions as a lack of prioritization. Even though recent years have brought important progress in terms of the European Union’s commitment to children’s rights and to combating child poverty, almost one in four children in the Union – 19.5 million in total – continue to be at risk of poverty or social exclusion.”says the report “Child poverty – a cost Europe cannot afford”, launched by Save The Children International.
Children in Slovenia (11.8%), Cyprus (14.8%) and the Czech Republic (15.4%) have the lowest risk of poverty and social exclusion, states that, even if they are not among the richest in the Union, have prioritized investment in children.
“These are the countries that have understood at the decision-making level that this investment in children represents economic salvation in the medium and long term. Child poverty is not inevitable. It is a matter of decision, thinking and economic strategy”says Roxana Paraschiv, coordinator of the Information and Documentation Center on Children’s Rights, within “Save the Children” Romania.
PHOTO Save the Children
What is happening in Romania. The vicious circle in which poverty is inherited
According to the data, 1,255,000 children in Romania were at risk of poverty in 2024. And the most affected are children from Roma ethnic families (78%) and children whose parents have a low level of education (75.8%).
“Here is the complex link, because education and poverty influence each other. Children from poor families do not manage to have a successful educational path, after which, not having an appropriate level of education, once they become adults they have no chance to occupy a stable and well-paid job. And things repeat themselves in the next generation.” says Roxana Paraschiv.
Although education is a right of all children, the financial situation greatly influences the process, also emphasizes Ciprian Necula, PhD in sociology and president of the “Roma Education Fund” Association:
“Children are not alone, children live in a context. And the context is very important. If the family of a child we want in school lives in poverty, that child will have difficulty performing, because his focus will be different. And participation will be different, because it will be stigmatized by teachers, by other students, and by the system itself. Basically, if you’re born poor, your chances of getting out of poverty on your own are slim, it rarely happens.”
Ciprian Necula, PhD in sociology and president of Roma Education Fund
Roxana Paraschiv adds: ,,Dropout and early school leaving are the tip of the iceberg. But if we look at those children who manage to stay in school, we notice that they are in school, but with acquisitions far below the level of their less disadvantaged peers. And the latest PISA report places us, as a country, among the states with the strongest link between socio-economic status and test results”.
The “Save the Children” report shows that other categories of children at risk of poverty are: children from single-parent families (36.5%) or from large families (50.9%), children from rural areas (with a risk of poverty or social exclusion of 41.7%), children from refugee families (28.4%), as well as children with disabilities or from the protection system.
“NGOs cannot compensate for the inability of the state”
“We are shocked every time we hear these data, but the phenomenon is not new. Unfortunately, NGOs cannot compensate for the state’s inability to deliver social services, deliver educational programs and provide protection to these children.”thinks Ciprian Necula.
In fact, Romania allocates only 3.3% of GDP to Education and 4.7% to Health. Regarding social protection expenditure, the expenditure is 12.8%. All this is a main cause of the risk of poverty, say the authors of the report. At the same time, Romania is not doing well when it comes to monitoring vulnerability factors either.
what to do “The dignitaries must no longer rely on instinct, but on research”
Short-term measures, such as significant expenditures allocated to a single year, are not sustainable, believes Roxana Paraschiv, but medium- and long-term policies are needed.
“Strategic investments are needed. First of all to the factors that potentiate poverty among children – and I will resume the Education dimension, because I consider it essential. On the other hand, the most vulnerable groups must be prioritized. Universal measures are good and in the spirit of rights. But it is good that in addition to these universal measures – such as, in Romania, the state allowance – there are also those targeted measures, which ensure that additional support for children who need it. Beyond the status of the parents or the will/unwillingness of the parents to overcome their situation, we must understand that no matter what those parents do the children must be helped to overcome the situation. Otherwise, as a society, we are exposed to a great risk”
Ciprian Necula says that the state should, first of all, really know the problem:
“I know that Minister Dragoș Pîslaru (not the Minister of Investments and European Projects) has an interest in this topic as well and that he is trying, but I don’t think it is enough for two ministers – the Minister of Labor and the Minister of European Funds – to be the only ones passionate about these topics, given that the fiscal-budgetary crisis in Romania leads to massive cuts and restructuring. (…)
We treat superficially also because we do not know the problem. We just think we know. Very often, dignitaries do not rely on research, on objective knowledge, but on instinct when making public policy. And their instinct is often wrong.”
Continuity of measures is another problem, the sociologist believes. Which says that public policies must no longer be abandoned with the departure of the governments that initiated them.
“What should Romania do? To recognize their problem, to know it objectively and to create public policies – with the support of the European Union, with the support of the OECD – so that the problem is dealt with systemically, not during the mandate of a prime minister, but over the next ten years. It should not be another strategy that remains in the drawer, because our strategies work like a speck in the eye of the European who criticizes us on a specific issue”emphasizes the sociologist.
Things could get worse this year
Until public policies work in the long term, the number of children at risk of poverty in Romania could increase this year, believes the representative of Save the Children Romania.
“At the national level, it is true that there was a decrease in 2024, but we have every reason to worry that the trend will reverse in 2025, with the austerity measures. (…) The simple increase in VAT will affect children”says Roxana Paraschiv.
According to her, the measures taken by the state – or lack thereof – will have long-term effects. And they will affect us as a society.
,,Beyond the size of rights, authorities should understand the economic cost. Because there are reports that say that, in the case of Romania, leaving education early (not a direct cause of poverty and social exclusion) ends up leading to a loss of over a third of GDP. Because you have a generation entering the labor market with a reduced level of skills and abilities, a generation with less good health and a generation with reduced social skills. And that costs. Beyond the violation of rights, at least the economic dimension should sensitize the authorities”.
