​Almost 70% of Romanians say they have relatives abroad more than 10 years ago, and almost 20% of them say their relatives abroad send them money, 10 years ago this percentage was double, according to a survey conducted by INSCOP at the request of News.ro.

In addition, according to 68.1% of the respondents, those who went abroad significantly contribute to raising the standard of living of Romanians. The percentage of those who believe that Romanians abroad should have the right to vote in Romanian elections has increased from 74.9% in June 2013 to 84.4% today.

How many Romanians receive money from their deceased relatives

69% of Romanians say they have relatives abroad (compared to 51.8% in June 2013), and 31% answered negatively (compared to 48.2% in June 2013). In particular, they declare that they have relatives abroad: people with primary education, residents of small towns, residents of eastern regions or southwestern Oltenia, socio-demographic analysis shows.

19.7% of those with relatives abroad say they send them money (compared to 38.1% in June 2013), with 80.1% saying no (compared to 60.6% in June 2013 year), and 0.2% do not know or do not answer (compared to 1.3% in June 2013).

According to 68.1% of respondents, Romanians abroad significantly contribute to raising the standard of living of Romanians in the country (compared to 56.8% in June 2013). 24.3% believe that Romanians abroad do little to improve the standard of living of Romanians in the country (compared to 30.8% in June 2013), and 7.7% do not know or do not answer this question (compared to 12.4 % in June 2013).

Romanians abroad and the right to vote

When asked whether Romanians abroad should have the right to vote in Romanian elections, 84.4% of respondents said yes (compared to 74.9% in June 2013) and 13.4% said no (compared to 15.1 % in June 2013). Don’t know or don’t answer this question 2.2% of the total sample (compared to 10% in June 2013).

“Against the background of the increase over the last 10 years in the share of Romanians who declare that they have relatives abroad, the share of those who believe that Romanians who have gone abroad make a great contribution to the standard of living of Romanians in the country. also increased significantly, even though the percentage of those who say they have relatives abroad who send them money has decreased compared to 2013. These latest data most likely reflect a change in the relationship between those who went to work abroad and those who stayed at home, in the context of a reduction in the financial pressure of relatives in the country of Romanians working in other countries. Recognition of the contribution of Diaspora Romanians to Romanian living standards is accompanied by growing support for the idea that Romanians abroad should have the right to vote in Romanian elections. All these data show that the hostile diaspora narratives that once spread in the Romanian public space have lost a lot of power, without the support of public opinion,” says Remus Štefureak, director of INSCOP Research.

The survey was conducted by INSCOP Research on behalf of News.ro. The data were collected from November 20 to 27 by the CATI method (telephone interviews), using a questionnaire. The volume of a simple stratified sample is 1100 people, representative of significant socio-demographic categories (gender, age, profession) for the non-institutionalized population of Romania aged 18 and over.

The maximum permissible data error is ± 2.95% with a confidence level of 95%.