The recent socio-economic development of Romania illustrates the same “tale of two Romanias”: one urban, dynamic and integrated into the EU, the other rural, poor and isolated, shows the analysis of the World Bank (Systematic Country Diagnostics, this year’s edition).

The information in the report, very briefly:

• To close the learning gap with their counterparts in Bucharest-Ilfov, students from the rest of the country would need an average of more than two years of additional education.

• Romania’s social contract is under strain due to an increasingly acute sense of poverty

• Romania is the only country in the EU that did not have universal access to running water

• Huge inequality in the provision of services has created gaps in human development

• 15% of the country’s population does not have health insurance

• The poorest are almost twice as likely to have high blood pressure as those with a higher standard of living

Romania ranks fourth in the EU in terms of income inequality after Bulgaria, Lithuania and Latvia

Although Romania is generally a high-income country, income levels vary widely across the country. On the one hand, the city of Bucharest and the surrounding county of Ilfov have experienced impressive growth, with per capita incomes higher than the EU average since 2007. Other large and dynamic cities, including Brasov, Cluj, Constanta and Timisoara, have also become thriving centers of business, innovation and culture.

On the other hand, there are large rural areas, especially those far from dynamic urban centers, where gross national income per capita is at the level of low-income countries.

Romania ranks fourth in the EU in terms of income inequality after Bulgaria, Lithuania and Latvia. Redistributive efforts through taxes and social spending are relatively high in Romania compared to developing countries, but lower than in other European countries.

Romania’s social contract is under strain due to an increasingly acute sense of poverty

Income inequality between population groups is also high, with the unemployed, the self-employed and the elderly living alone significantly more likely to live in poverty. Romania’s social contract is under strain due to an increasingly acute sense of widespread poverty and inequality: 76% of Romanians believe that the lack of social rights is a serious problem, and 59% believe that raising living standards is the most important element for achieving social and economic development in the EU.

Poverty is highly concentrated in rural areas, where approximately 70% of Romania’s poor people live. National at-risk-of-poverty rates are nearly six times higher in rural areas than in urban areas.

Differences in living standards are significant, with average per capita income in cities more than 60 percent higher than in rural areas, a gap that is widening and has barely changed over the past decade.

The gap between urban and rural environments is also visible at the level of public services.

Romania is the only country in the EU that did not have universal access to running water

While almost 100% of the population is served by water supply in the urban environment, in rural areas only 39% and 15% of the population are connected to the water supply and sewage systems, respectively.

As for transport infrastructure, Romania’s regions are poorly interconnected, and the transport infrastructure competitiveness index is significantly lower than the EU average.

Huge inequality in the provision of services has created gaps in human development. More than 15% of the rural population report unmet medical needs, which is significantly higher than in urban areas.

Health status varies by income group, with the lower end of the income distribution having a higher prevalence of chronic diseases: for example, high blood pressure is almost twice as common among the poorest (19%) as among the wealthiest (10%).

According to the National Health Insurance Fund, 15% of the country’s population does not have health insurance, and this proportion is higher among those with lower incomes.

The gap in educational outcomes is also large: to close the learning gap with their counterparts in Bucharest-Ilfov, students from the rest of the country would need, on average, more than two years of additional education.

Furthermore, the human capital index (HCI) at the county level is 0.68 in Bucharest-Ilfov, but drops to 0.51 in the neighboring county of Giurgiu, indicating an almost 20% gap between the potential productivity of children born in the two counties.

Romania lags behind other countries in the region in terms of financial accessibility, especially in rural areas. More than 30% of Romanian adults do not have a bank account (one of the highest percentages in the EU), and in rural areas the share of the unprotected population is even higher. Payment infrastructure (such as ATMs and POS terminals) is underdeveloped, and digital financial services, although developing, are still in their infancy.

In addition, internal differences in business development opportunities are striking: Bucharest’s local business environment index score is almost seven times higher than that of the city with the lowest score, namely Vaslui.

Some of the priorities we must impose on ourselves are:

• 1. Mitigating the impact of political instability by establishing medium- and long-term strategic and spending priorities

• 2. Increasing citizens’ trust in the state

• 3. Ensuring fiscal stability

• 4. Strengthening the management of human resources in the public sector to improve the provision of public services

• 5. Increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of the provision of public services at the central and local levels

• 6. Improving the access of the poor, vulnerable and rural population to infrastructure and quality public services

• 7. Ensuring equal access to medical services

• 8. Ensuring access to quality education for all

• 9. Strengthen lifelong skills learning, especially for vulnerable groups