Romania and Bulgaria - facts
13 April 2012
- Romania has a population of 22.3 million. According to UN figures, 8.8 per cent of the population are unemployed.
- The republic is struggling to stamp out widespread corruption.
- Its gipsy minority has suffered poor treatment over the years.
- The economy remains weak after an economic down-turn in the mid-Nineties.
- Social conditions remain poor - the average life expectancy is 71, far lower
- Bulgaria has a population of 7.9 million with an average annual income equivalent to $1,650.
- It has had more difficulty in stabilising its economy. In the first half of the last decade it was politically unstable and suffered from strikes. The economy remains weak.
- The gipsy minority suffers widespread discrimination.
