Country profile · Southeast Europe
Romania
Romania has about 19 million people and guards NATO's eastern flank on the Black Sea. In 2024 its Constitutional Court annulled a presidential election over suspected Russian interference. Nicușor Dan won the rerun in May 2025. A caretaker government has run the country since May 2026, and Russian drones keep crossing into Romanian airspace.
Where Romania ranks
All rankings →Which alliances is Romania in?
All alliances →Who runs Romania?
On December 6, 2024 the Constitutional Court annulled the presidential election, two days before the runoff. Călin Georgescu, a far-right outsider, had won the first round with 22.94% after a coordinated TikTok campaign. Declassified intelligence pointed to help from a foreign state, widely reported to be Russia. Georgescu was barred from the rerun and is now in pre-trial detention in a fraud case. On May 18, 2025 Nicușor Dan, a mathematician and former mayor of Bucharest, won the rerun against George Simion of the nationalist AUR party, 53.6% to 46.4%. Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan's coalition lost a no-confidence vote on May 5, 2026, after the Social Democrats (PSD) quit and voted with AUR. Bolojan stayed on as caretaker, and three candidates to replace him failed. On October 20, 2026 parliament votes on a fourth, the diplomat Luca Niculescu, backed by the PSD and the Liberals. The chart shows the lower house as elected in 2024 (chart); some deputies have since switched groups. AUR leads the polls, with 34 to 40% in September 2026.
- Social Democrats (PSD) 86
- AUR 63
- National Liberals (PNL) 49
- USR 40
- SOS Romania 28
- POT 24
- Hungarian party (UDMR) 22
- National minorities 19
Photo (December 2025): Lauri Heikkinen, Finnish Government, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
Who are Romania's allies and rivals?
Romania joined NATO in 2004 and the EU in 2007. It hosts a US missile-defense site at Deveselu and a NATO battle group led by France. It is expanding the Mihail Kogălniceanu air base near Constanța into one of NATO's largest in Europe, at a cost of about €2.5 billion by around 2040. In October 2025 the United States ended a brigade rotation, leaving about 1,000 US troops. Russia is the main threat. Russian drones attacking Ukraine's Danube ports have crossed into Romania dozens of times since 2022, and one hit an apartment block in Galați in May 2026. Since July 2026 Romanian and NATO jets have shot down six drones over Romania. Since October 5 drones have hit merchant ships off Romania and Bulgaria, one of them inside Romanian waters on October 14. Romania trains Ukraine's F-16 pilots at Fetești. Moldova shares Romania's language, and 858,913 Moldovans regained Romanian citizenship between 1991 and 2024.
Allies and partners
United StatesMissile-defense site at Deveselu; about 1,000 US troops
FranceLeads the NATO battle group in Romania
MoldovaSame language; 858,913 Moldovans regained Romanian citizenship
UkraineF-16 pilot training; grain exports through Constanța
Rivals
RussiaDrones cross into Romania; six shot down in 2026
- Deveselu US Aegis Ashore missile-defense site, operational since May 2016.
- Cincu Base of the NATO battle group led by France since 2022.
- Mihail Kogălniceanu Air base near Constanța being expanded into one of NATO's largest in Europe, about €2.5 billion by around 2040.
- Sulina Danube mouth. A drone hit a tanker in Romanian waters here on October 14, 2026. Jets shot down two drones on October 17.
- Romania
- Partner
Who does Romania trade with?
Romania exported €96.6 billion of goods in 2025 and imported €129.4 billion (INS), a deficit of €32.7 billion. The EU took 71% of exports. Germany is the main partner, buying 20% of exports and supplying 18% of imports (chart). China supplied 7% of imports. Machinery and vehicles made up 47% of exports. Romania built 545,510 cars in 2025, at Dacia's plant in Mioveni, owned by Renault, and Ford's plant in Craiova. Output fell 10.9% in the first nine months of 2026. Romania was the EU's biggest wheat exporter in the 2024/25 season. The budget deficit was the largest in the EU in both 2024 (9.3% of GDP) and 2025 (7.9%). To cut it, the government raised VAT from 19% to 21% in August 2025 and froze public wages and pensions in 2026. The IMF expects the economy to shrink 0.5% in 2026. All three big rating agencies rate Romania at the lowest investment grade, with a negative outlook. Inflation was 6.6% in September 2026.
Bulgaria
Why do so many Romanians live abroad?
About 4.6 million people born in Romania lived abroad in mid-2024 (UN), close to one in five of all Romanian-born people (chart). Romanians are the largest group of EU citizens living in another EU country, about 3.1 million in 2024 (Eurostat). Between 2000 and 2015 Romania's diaspora grew faster than any other country's except Syria's (UN). Italy has about 1.05 million Romanian citizens, Germany about 904,000 and Spain about 609,000. The United Kingdom also has a large community. Romania's population fell from 23.2 million in 1990 to about 19.0 million in 2026. In 2025 more people moved to Romania than left, but deaths outnumbered births by 104,100. Employers now bring in workers from Asia, mainly Nepal and Sri Lanka. The 2026 quota is 90,000. In the 2025 runoff Romanians abroad backed George Simion, 56% to 44%, and Nicușor Dan won on votes cast inside Romania. Romanians abroad sent home $10.6 billion in 2025 (World Bank).
People living outside their country of birth, Europe, 2024
Full ranking →- Ukraine9,769,216
United Kingdom4,804,944- Romania4,583,819
Poland4,572,613
Germany4,297,233
Italy2,941,444
UN DESA, International Migrant Stock 2024, 2024
Why does Romania matter for Europe's gas?
Romania produced about 9.2 billion cubic meters of natural gas in 2025. By energy content it was the EU's largest producer in 2024 and 2025, roughly level with the Netherlands by volume. Neptun Deep, a Black Sea field owned half by OMV Petrom and half by the state company Romgaz, holds about 100 billion cubic meters. It cost about €4 billion, and first gas is expected in the first half of 2027. At full output, about 8 billion cubic meters a year, it should roughly double Romania's production and make it clearly the EU's largest gas producer. Romania also runs a nuclear plant at Cernavodă with two reactors that make about 18% of its electricity. Both were off in October 2026 because the Danube was too low to cool them and should restart on November 1. In February 2026 Romania approved a plant of six small US-designed NuScale reactors at Doicești, with the first due in 2033.