Out-migration and social and technological marginalization in Romania. Regional disparities

Migration is one of the drivers of population change in Europe. Out-migration has become a relatively new phenomenon for Romania, especially after the fall of communism and the accession to the European Union. According to EUROSTAT, Romania ranks fifth in the out-migration hierarchy at EU level. The present study aims to provide an insight on the influence of social and technological development level on the out-migration flows by computing and correlating the Social and Technological Disadvantage Index to Out-migration Rate. The study is conducted based on the statistical data available provided by the National Institute of Statistics and by the Romania's representative body of clusters. The study is carried out at the level of 42 Romanian counties (NUTS3 level) for the 2018 timeline. The main findings of the study are related to the fact that the high magnitude of out-migration pertain, on the one hand, to a low level of the social and technological degree (a group of counties from Southern Romania) and, on the other hand, to a high level (such as the case of several counties from Western or Central Romania, Bucharest Municipality and thereabouts). A distinct situation is that of the Eastern counties, which are no longer an area for high emigration, compared to the 2002-2007 period.