Romania 2050: It will be true, they said
It’s 2050, a year like any other. Yet, many things will have changed, looking back to 2023…
Just 20% of Romanians here in 2050 feel the need to adjust their spending to their actual spending power compared with 2023, when almost half of them (48%) acknowledged doing this.
The number of protests has significantly decreased, down to three to four a year. They are better organized, have a clear message, and are effective in reaching their objectives. The rest gradually moved from street protests to civilized negotiations indoors. Back in 2023, according to the Romanian media, there were dozens of them, poorly organized by various professions, closed circle, no compelling claims, and not properly followed up.
This year, in 2050, the proportion stating their distrust in AI has significantly dropped and is now well below 50%, which was the share of the population declared their worry regarding AI back in 2023.
Only 30% of the population now believe that claiming one’s rights by organizing strikes is the best way to do it, vs the 73% of Romanians who said that back in 2023 (with highest rights being granted for teachers, medical staff, and scavengers). (Ipsos study on the right to strike, July 2023).
Trust in politicians has significantly improved vs 2023, when most Romanian citizens (79%) believed that political parties do not actually care about a large mass of the population. Here in 2050, Romanians have preserved their optimism in medical science, as previously seen in the above-the-global-average proportion saying that, in the end, all diseases will have found their cure (it was 71% in Romania vs 61% on average globally, according to Ipsos Global Trends 2023).
Similarly, the proportion who believe there are too many immigrants in their country remains relatively low (it was 43% for Romania in 2023 vs 64% global average, in the same Ipsos Global Trends report).
‘Jamais deux sans trois’, they also said, so here’s a third good piece of news: in 2050, as was the case back in in 2023, Romania continues to surpass the EU average (23% vs 17%) in being among top 10 countries in the EU when it comes to women working in the sector of engineering and physics.
The story gets closer to an (open) end, as the Ipsos Predictions survey for next year is ready to start! We expect that less than half of our citizens will say that 2049 was a bad year for the country (vs 83% in 2023), and even fewer that it was an unsuccessful year for their families (vs 61% in back then 2023).
The year 2050 could become real, or at least feasible, if one dares to dream and then convert our fantasies into reality. One could become this country, in this case.
Alina Stepan
Country Manager, Ipsos in Romania