Health care in Romania - statistics & facts

According to Article 34 of the Constitution of Romania, the right to health care is guaranteed for every citizen; furthermore, the state is obliged to take measures to ensure hygiene and public health. Thus, following the legal basis of the country’s health system, every insured Romanian citizen has the right to free and unrestricted medical services. However, Romania’s health system struggles to reform. Unlike other countries - such as Germany, which allocates between 11 and 12 percent of its gross domestic product to health expenditure - Romania’s health expenditure variates between five and six percent of its GDP. The budget limitations, along with the lack of proper medical equipment and corruption, led to disturbing working conditions for the country's medical staff.

Medical infrastructure

In March 2023, four new hospital projects were announced, totaling to over 1.4 billion Romanian lei in investment value. However, this does not change the fact that the country’s medical infrastructure consists of buildings that are at least 30 years old. In 2022, Romania had a total of 544 hospitals. Out of these, only four were built after 1989: National Institute of Oncology in Iași; Municipal Hospital in Mioveni; Municipal Hospital in Fălticeni and Gomoiu Hospital for Children in Bucharest. This led to a fast development of the private medical healthcare sector, which totaled 168 private hospitals in 2021. Due to financial reasons and better working conditions, individuals employed in state-owned hospitals often have additional working contracts with private clinics, hospitals, or laboratories.



Corruption – or when the scalpel is political

No medical heathcare system can be successful if the financial resources – already limited – are diverted and, more importantly, if people cannot benefit from the necessary medical services. Corruption in the healthcare industry is often seen in the form of defrauding the public procurement process of medical equipment - an issue commonly associated in Romania with the hospital manager’s political party. Another practice which has become disturbingly common is the envelope. In other words, patients provide a symbolic amount of money to the medical personnel in order to be taken care of. Although mass-media inform Romanians about big corruption cases and money prejudice caused to the public healthcare system, small corruption acts, or mere gifts, have long been accepted and normalized in the society.
This text provides general information. Statista assumes no liability for the information given being complete or correct. Due to varying update cycles, statistics can display more up-to-date data than referenced in the text.
Published by Statista Research Department, Dec 21, 2023

Key insights

Health expenditure as a share of GDP in Romania
5.69%
Number of physicians in Romania
71,279
Number of ambulances in Romania
3,780
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