Key Features of the Internal Migration Process in Romania – An Economic and Historical Perspective

Internal migration is one of the most important drivers for reducing poverty and facilitating economic development. However, the factors that affect population mobility within a country, as well as the relationship between internal migration and economic development, are difficult to understand. This paper aims to provide an analysis of the population mobility in Romania, so that one understands the relationship between the economic development and internal migration. In order to achieve this objective, official data provided by the National Institute of Statistics as well as various statistical and econometric techniques (simple regression, entropy) are used. The research led to three major findings: (i) the internal migratory process is characterized by 7 historical periods, highly related to the social, economic and political phenomena that shaped the Romanian history; (ii) economic development of a county and the internal migration inflows are highly dependent; (iii) internal migration flows concentrate towards just four counties: Bucharest, Timisoara, Cluj and Constanta, leading to major agglomerations. These findings are highly valuable for the decision makers at county level.