Income in Romania
The median income in Romania is about $26 a day per person (2021 PPP dollars) — richer than 81% of everyone alive. Half of Romania lives on less than that.
The world's own median person — about $7.73 a day — would stand in the bottom 6% of Romania.
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The curve
Daily income per person, log scale, PPP dollars — the same curve the machine walks you across.
What it takes to stand where
Take-home income per person, in today's RON, at each point on the curve of Romania (the machine's convention: household take-home divided by the people it supports).
| Richer than… | per year, per person | per day (PPP $) |
|---|---|---|
| 10% of Romania | RON 10,614 | $11 |
| 25% of Romania | RON 18,054 | $18 |
| 50% of Romania | RON 26,238 | $26 |
| 75% of Romania | RON 36,605 | $37 |
| 90% of Romania | RON 48,558 | $49 |
| 99% of Romania | RON 88,535 | $89 |
Rounded, never inflated: the machine floors "richer than" claims.
The four levels in Romania
How much of Romania and of the world lives on each of four income levels. The cuts are the World Bank's $3.00 (international poverty line) and $8.30 (upper-middle-income line), both 2021 PPP; the top cut, $33, is the machine's own, four times the $8.30 line. The objects are what an income on each level tends to buy across the world's surveys — not a description of any one country.
| Level | per day (PPP $) | What tends to come with it, worldwide | Romania | World |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | under $3.00 | a fire to cook on, water carried home from the well, everywhere on foot | 1% | 13% |
| Level 2 | $3.00–$8.30 | a bicycle, a gas canister for the stove, a tap within walking distance | 5% | 39% |
| Level 3 | $8.30–$33 | a motorbike, a gas stove, a bank account | 61% | 32% |
| Level 4 | $33+ | a car, a fridge, hot water from the tap | 33% | 15% |
- Level 1 · under $3.00 a dayRomania 1% · World 13%a fire to cook on, water carried home from the well, everywhere on foot
- Level 2 · $3.00–$8.30 a dayRomania 5% · World 39%a bicycle, a gas canister for the stove, a tap within walking distance
- Level 3 · $8.30–$33 a dayRomania 61% · World 32%a motorbike, a gas stove, a bank account
- Level 4 · $33+ a dayRomania 33% · World 15%a car, a fridge, hot water from the tap
About 61% of Romania lives on Level 3, between $8.30 and $33 a day per person; worldwide, about 32% of people do.
The line that moved
In Romania, under 1% lived under the $3.00 line at the 1992 survey and under 1% at the 2023 one — it has barely moved.
Share of Romania under $3.00 a day (2021 prices) at each national survey, World Bank PIP via Our World in Data; the faint line is the world's.
Worldwide, the share under the World Bank's $3.00-a-day line fell from about 43% in 1990 to about 10% today (Our World in Data; the latest years are the Bank's nowcast). Where the lift came, it came the unglamorous way: wages, harvests, workshops.
Who earns what in Romania
8 portraits, not payroll data: each stands roughly where that kind of work typically earns on the curve of Romania.
| the lowest 10% | the earnings of a smallholder farmer in the northeast — a hectare worked to the fence line |
|---|---|
| 10–25% | the earnings of a shop assistant in a county town |
| 25–45% | the earnings of a textile worker — the label says a fancier address |
| 45–65% | the earnings of a tram driver in Bucharest |
| 65–82% | the earnings of an accountant |
| 82–93% | the earnings of an IT developer in Cluj — the local rents know it too |
| 93–98% | the earnings of a surgeon |
| the highest 2% | the earnings of an entrepreneur with EU-wide clients |
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Where this comes from
The World Bank's Poverty and Inequality Platform percentile distribution for Romania (survey year 2023), in 2021 PPP dollars; incomes typed in today's money are deflated to 2021 prices with the national CPI and converted with the 2021 consumption-PPP factor. Snapshot fetched September 2026. Full methodology & honesty rules.
Neighbours on the curve
The countries whose median income sits nearest to Romania's — and a few far from it, for scale.