Money Buzz! Europa

Tag: romania

  • 2 out of 10 Romanians say they bought a pet during the lockdown

    2 out of 10 Romanians say they bought a pet during the lockdown

    The lockdown period caused by the COVID-19 pandemic influenced the purchase or adoption of a pet. Thus, 20% of pet owners state that they have owned a pet for at least two years.

    According to a Reveal Marketing Research study, the dog is not only man’s best friend, but also the most common pet owned by urban and rural households.

    Data shows that that 73% of pet owners have a dog, while 57% have cats.

    The top of the most popular pets is made up of parrot/canary birds (9%), fish (7%), turtle and hamster/guinea pig (3%).

    Dogs stand out as the favorite animal by young people aged 18 to 25 (80%) and families with children (78%).

    Romanians seem to be more and more interested in the adoption part (57%), instead of the acquisition (57%).

    When considering the adoption of a pet, 7 out of 10 Romanians say they intend to adopt a dog.

  • Tesla is the company that most of Romanians want to invest in

    Tesla is the company that most of Romanians want to invest in

    Invezz.com found that Tesla is the company that Romanians most want to invest in with an astonishing 11,700 online searches a month for the clean energy innovator’s stock.

    Apple is in second position with 6,800 online enquiries per month for the tech enterprises stock from interested Romanians. 

    In third place is Amazon with an average of 4,500 online searches each month for their stock. Amazon as an investment prospect is certainly an enticing one, given their consistent desire to expand into new services – this is exemplified by the recent launch of their own online pharmacy.

    In fourth spot is NIO who receive an average of 4,300 online searches each month from Romanians keen to invest in the Chinese automobile manufacturers stock.

    On the other end in tenth position is Hertz. The car rental organisation gains 800 online searches every month from those looking into their stock as an investment option.

    Interestingly, there are 800 online searches per month for Google stock as well, meaning the search engine juggernaut ranks ninth. 

    Romanians desire to invest in company stock

    Considering that investment in stocks can be a key pillar in building personal wealth, Invezz.com surveyed 1,108 undecided Romanians to find out what would push them over the ‘investment line’, and their answers were as follows:

    • Obtaining more knowledge on investment (79%);
    • Cutting down on non-essential expenses so there is more money available for investment (75%);
    • Accepting there will be various ‘risks’ associated with investing (69%);
    • Having help or guidance from an investment professional (63%);
    • Being less deterred by negative stock market speculation (32%).
  • Romania remains the worst place to live in the European Union

    Romania remains the worst place to live in the European Union

    Romania ranks again 45th out of 163 countries and is surpassed by all the other EU member states, according to the 2020 Social Progress Index, which analyzes the quality of life and social wellbeing and is conducted by the Social Progress Imperative with the support of Deloitte.

    Romania registers a score of 78.35 points out of 100, slightly higher than last year, which places it among the ranking’s third category countries, after Barbados, Bulgaria and Mauritius.

    In the global ranking, Romania is in the top 50 countries in two of the three analyzed categories, basic needs (45th place) and opportunities (49th place), while in the wellbeing category it ranks 57th.

    Analyzing the values assigned for each of the coordinates falling into these three categories, our country obtained the best scores for personal safety (36th place), personal rights (46th place), access to advanced education (49th place) and access to communications and information (49th place).

    On the other hand, the coordinates analyzed for Romania that recorded lower scores are inclusiveness (91st place), shelter (90th place), health and wellness (85th place).

    Norway continues to rank first in the world

    In 2020, Norway, Denmark and Finland occupy the first places in the ranking, while Central African Republic, Chad and South Sudan are on the last positions.

    The EU member states, except Croatia, Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania, are in the first two categories of countries in the ranking, with a good quality of life.

    Among the Central and Eastern Europe countries, the best place is occupied by Slovenia (22), followed by Estonia (24), the Czech Republic (25), Poland (31), Lithuania (32), Latvia (35), Slovakia (36), Croatia (39), Hungary (40), Bulgaria (43) and Romania (45).

    Overview of index changes in the last ten years

    The global average on social progress increased from 60.63 out of 100 in 2011, to 64.24 in 2020.

    Between 2011 and 2020, 155 of the analyzed countries experienced an improvement of at least one point in the quality of life and social wellbeing, while 42% of them improved by five or more points. The United States, Brazil and Hungary are the only three countries that have seen a decline in the social progress index during this period.

    Since 2011 until now, the coordinates that have improved globally are access to information and communications, access to advanced education, shelter and water and sanitation.

    Personal rights and inclusiveness are among the indicators that have declined over the reviewed period, while personal safety and environmental quality have stagnated.

    How the Social Progress Index (SPI) is made

    The Social Progress Index (SPI) measures the quality of life and social wellbeing of citizens from 163 countries, based on the analysis of three main dimensions.

    The methodology consists of assigning a score for basic needs categoryitems – nutrition and basic medical care, water and sanitation, shelter and personal safety -, for wellbeing categoryitems- access to basic knowledge, access to information and communications, health and wellness, environmental quality – and for opportunities category – personal rights, personal freedom and choice, inclusiveness, access to advanced education. Based on the score, the countries in the ranking are grouped into six categories arranged in descending order.

  • 98% of Romanian pupils learned more than two languages in school

    98% of Romanian pupils learned more than two languages in school

    In the EU, 48% of the pupils in upper secondary education studied more than two languages in 2018. This share was higher than 80% in Romania (98%), Finland (94%), the Flemish community of Belgium (84%) and Luxembourg (82%).

    On the other end of the ranking, in Greece, only 1% of the students in upper secondary education studied more than 2 languages in 2018, Eurostat shows.

    English is the most commonly studied foreign language in the EU

    Almost 87% of pupils learned English in upper secondary education in 2018. English was followed by French (19%), German and Spanish (both around 18%). 

    In 2018, in all EU Member States more than 65% of students enrolled in upper secondary education were learning English as a foreign language, with the exception of Denmark (57%).

    Russian was the most commonly non-EU language learned in 2018 (2%) especially in Latvia (48%), Estonia (44%), Bulgaria and Lithuania (both around 26%). 

  • A child born in Romania today will achieve only half of productive potential

    A child born in Romania today will achieve only half of productive potential

    A child born in Romania today will achieve only half of the productive potential of a fully educated adult in good health, says the latest update of the World Bank’s Human Capital Index (HCI), which measures pre-pandemic human capital outcomes around the world. 

    The analysis shows that a child born in Romania today will be achieve 58 percent of a fully educated adult in optimal health. This is lower than the productivity potential of 60 percent 10 years ago.

    The country is now lower than the average for the Europe & Central Asia region including high-income countries.  

    Romania’s HCI value reflects the need for urgent improvements in health and education outcomes.

    Today, a child in Romania can expect to complete 11.8 years of pre-primary, primary and secondary school by age 18, compared with 12.6 years in 2010. By comparison, a child in France can expect to complete 13.8 years.

    When years of schooling are adjusted for the quality of learning, the World Bank estimates that a child in Romania only benefits from 8.4 years of schooling, a learning gap of 3.4 years.

    Furthermore, students in Romania score 442 for learning outcomes on a scale where 625 represents advanced attainment and 300 represents minimum attainment.

    In terms of health, the percentage of 15-year-olds that will survive to age 60 stands at only 88 percent, compared to 93 percent in France and 95 percent in Sweden.

    The World Bank Group’s 2020 Human Capital Index shows that pre-pandemic, most countries have made steady progress in developing human capital in children, with the biggest strides made in low-income countries.

    Despite this progress, and even before the effects of the pandemic, a child born in a typical country could expect to achieve just 56 percent of her potential human capital, relative to a benchmark of complete education and full health.

    The HCI is made up of this indicators

    • the probability of survival to age 5;
    • a child’s expected years of schooling;
    • harmonized test scores;
    • learning-adjusted years of school;
    • adult survival rate and healthy growth – the proportion of children who are not stunted (data on stunting are not available for Romania).

    Scores are compiled for 174 countries covering 98 percent of the world’s population up to March 2020, providing a pre-pandemic baseline on the health and education of children.

    The Human Capital Index (HCI), first launched in 2018, measures the level of knowledge and skills that a child born today can expect to acquire by the age 18 based on the risks associated with poor education and health in a specific country.

  • Romania is well positioned to attract industrial capacities from Asia

    Romania is well positioned to attract industrial capacities from Asia

    The Central and Eastern European Region (CEE) may attract new production capacity as the global economy undergoes major changes in the pandemic context, according to a Colliers International report on the regional industrial market.

    Romania is very competitive in terms of costs, and industrial production has increased significantly in recent years, qualities that can turn the country into a magnet for investments in the production area.

    The global economy is undergoing a period of intense changes in the context of the pandemic, and the relationship between Europe and China is expected to shift significantly in the future. More and more specialists are talking about a relocation of important production capacities operated in Asia by European companies, eager to better control the supply chain.

    A major impediment, however, would have been, until recently, the significantly higher production costs in Central and Eastern Europe compared to China. As wages in China have advanced enormously in the last 10 years, this change is becoming more and more possible, especially in the context of a pandemic that has put huge pressure on the supply chain.

    The Central and Eastern European area has seen one of the highest rates of economic growth in the last decade, and industrial production has kept the pace. Probably the biggest advantage that countries in this region have is the labor market, with wages several times lower than in Western Europe and, in recent years, surprisingly similar to those in China, according to Colliers International’s report.

    Labour cost in CEE saw an increase

    Specifically, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia saw an increase in labor costs of 1.6 to 2.6 times from 2004 to 2018, while Bulgaria and Romania recorded increases of just over 3 times in the same period.

    For comparison, labor costs in the German production sector are about 3 times higher than in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, about 4 times higher than in Hungary and Poland, almost 6 times higher than in Romania and almost 8 times higher than in Bulgaria.

    The pace of productivity growth has remained above the pace of cost advances, and, in all Central and Eastern European countries, the gap between value added per employee and labor costs has widened significantly between 2004 and 2018.

    It is worth noting that in Romania, the gap between value added per employee and labor costs is slightly below that of China, with neighboring countries also following, with small differences.