The UK was therefore the top choice of Romanians leaving their country for the second year in a row, after 55,000 people or 28% of the total who left in 2015, chose it.
“The move of Romanian migration from mostly southern Europe to mostly north and the English-speaking area is part of an overall trend that has been visible for a while now. This change became noticeable at the end of the global financial crisis in 2010-2011. The surprising thing is that UK remains the top choice despite the Brexit talks. (…),” Professor Dumitru Sandu with the Faculty of Sociology and Social Work of the University of Bucharest.
The top choice of Romanians leaving their country used to be Italy, where 30% of the more than 3 million who left Romanian in the past two decades live.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)