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Romania has the second highest poverty rate in the European Union. According to Eurostat, about 40% of Romanians (8.6 million) are at risk of poverty or social exclusion. According to the World Bank, in 2011, 32.9% of the population (6.6 million) lived on less than $5 a day, while 1.6% lived on less than $2 a day.

During the 1990s, Romania began a transformation from a socialist economy to a capitalist country. The process resulted in millions of people becoming unemployed as the state-owned companies were closed down. Many of these migrated to rural areas or, later, emigrated to Western Europe. Outmigration has been high throughout the 2000s, leading to large diasporas in Italy (1.1 million), Spain (730,000) and other Western European countries.

While the most affected ethnic group are the Roma people, poverty is widespread across all ethnic groups, including the Romanians and Hungarians.

Homelessness is widespread in the big cities: the biggest number being in the capital, Bucharest, where over 5000 people live on the streets (0.26% of the population). Child poverty is particularly high, 48.5% of Romanians under 17 being at risk of poverty or social exclusion.