Some 280,000 more inhabitants
Cojocariu Eugen, 02.11.2026, 14:33
Data from the Social Monitor, a project by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, reveals that Romania’s population grew by nearly 280,000 people due to immigration between 2022 and 2025. The latest figures published by the National Institute for Statistics (INS) confirm that Romania is no longer primarily a country of origin for emigration, but rather a destination for immigration. In 2024, for the fourth consecutive year, more people settled in Romania for a period exceeding 12 months than emigrated from it. In this context, net migration stood at plus 97,114 in 2022, plus 66,065 in 2023, plus 48,716 in 2024, and plus 66,920 in 2025.
Romania’s migration profile is undergoing a marked shift. According to the latest Eurostat data for 2024, approximately two thirds (184,700) of the 287,000 long-term recorded immigrants were Romanian citizens returning to the country. A significant share of these immigrants (13%) consists of Ukrainian citizens who arrived in Romania following the outbreak of the war in their country. Large numbers of immigrants (though lower than in the previous year) were also recorded from Nepal (15,179) and Sri Lanka (7,021).
According to data provided by the National Institute for Statistics (INS), the largest number of permanent immigrants arriving in Romania in 2025 came from the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine. At the same time, a significant number of permanent immigrants originate from countries that, over the last few decades, served as destinations for temporarily emigrating Romanians, such as Germany, Canada, Italy, and Spain. In effect, these figures represent the return of a part of the emigration flows recorded since the 1989 Revolution, notes the Social Monitor.
