A statistician asked people how much money they needed to live on. Amazing the answers he got

In Romania, 1 in 5 families have arrears on bills – be it maintenance/rent, utilities, bank payments, etc. Most of the arrears are for electricity and maintenance bills (about three-quarters of the arrears). The INS asked the Romanians what salary they would need to have to cover the costs.

Regarding the ability to pay important current expenses on time (house maintenance, loan payments2, utility bills, etc.), it can be noted that 18.5% of households indicated that there was at least one situation when they could not pay these expenses on time, a situation caused by mainly, unsatisfactory financial situation.

Among the payments for which arrears were registered during 2022, payments for electricity (75.0%) and housing maintenance (68.1%) were most often observed. Overdue rent amounted to 14.6% of houses, according to the Statistics study.

The first contradictory result: women would accept less money

According to statistics, there are about 7.5 million families in Romania. About 5.2 million are headed by men and 2.3 million are headed by women, the INS data also shows.

About 3,000 male-headed families claim that the minimum net income should be at least 4,000 lei to cover all expenses. In the case of women, a little more than 800 families would qualify for this level. In July, the average net salary was more than 4,500 lei net.

For example, in the US, during a similar survey, Americans said that in order to feel financially comfortable, they need an average salary of about $233,000 a year, which is three times the average income of American households (about $71,000 a year). . )

One-person families would accept less

Obviously, the larger the family, the greater the needs. When you have 4-5-6 children, it is clear that more resources are needed. Otherwise, the needs in all other categories are the same: more than 4,000 lei

According to the INS study, in our country only 15% of families claim that they could cover current expenses with a net monthly income of less than 2,001 lei. A little higher (18%) is the percentage of those who need an income of 3,000 lei, the same percentage of families that could get by on 3-4,000 lei per month.

Half of the families surveyed by Statistica say that the net monthly income needed to cover current monthly expenses should be more than 4,000 lei.

Overall, the statisticians who conducted the survey noted, there is an increasing trend in the share of households that believe they need a growing net monthly cash income to cope with expenses.

The assessment of families living outside the city is significantly different.

Thus, if in rural areas more than 20% of families believe that they can cope with current household expenses with a net monthly income of less than 2,001 lei, then in the urban environment only 9.7% of families believed that the net monthly income is less than 2,001 lei. to cover current costs.

In the case of urban families, almost 60% say that for current monthly household expenses they will need

amounts exceeding 4,000 lei per month, compared to 39% of families living in rural areas.

Low incomes, below 2,001 lei, are considered necessary to cover the current expenses of the family, mainly those formed by a single person aged 65 and over (35.5%).

High incomes, more than 4,000 lei net per month, are considered necessary by more than half of two-person families. The share of households with 3 or more people who consider incomes of more than 4,000 lei net monthly to cover current household expenses is about 70%.

In addition, high incomes, more than 4,000 lei net monthly, are also considered necessary by more than 75% of households with two adults and 3 or more dependent children, as well as 68.1% of households consisting of two parents and 2 dependent children.

By region, the majority of families who would not accept less than 4,000 lei net are families from Moldova, which is also one of the poorest and most underdeveloped regions of the country.

Families from Bucharest, Ardeal and Muntenia are almost equal (560 families each), and in Oltenia only 265 families would like high salaries.

In 2022, the share of households with debt decreased in single-parent families with a minor child in the city of

maintenance, but increases by almost 10% in the case of families consisting of two adults and 3 or more children.

Families of the unemployed are in the most difficult position, the share of households that could not pay their debts on time is 50%. Of them, more than 80% registered at least one arrears for the payment of electricity and almost three quarters had a delay in paying the costs of maintaining buildings (water, gas, heat).

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