Sorin Melenciuc 07/08/2018 | 17:22
Romanian adults think they have a better life than their parents, but are pessimistic about the living standard of their children, a recent World Bank report show. Romanians perform better in terms of income than their education level would suggest, the experts say.
The research book “Fair Progress? : Economic Mobility Across Generations Around the World”, released this summer by the World Bank, indicates that Romania perform better than expected in terms of “income mobility”.
According to the experts, economic mobility across generations, also known as intergenerational mobility (IGM) in the economic literature, is a key element of human progress.
In most countries, parents would like to see their children have a higher living standard – and with it a better life – than they have had themselves.
And most individuals would like the opportunity to move up to a higher place on the economic ladder than the point on it where they happened to be born.
In Romania, more than 50 percent of adults say “I have done better in life than my parents”, among the highest percentage in the world, according to the report.
A recent EBRD study has found that, in 2016, more than 50 percent of Romanians “agreed” or “strongly agreed” with the statement: “all things considered, I am satisfied with my life now”.
In 2006, less than 20 percent of Romanians considered themselves satisfied with their life.
Happier than the region
On average, Romanians are now happier than the average respondent in South-Eastern Europe and the transition region, according to EBRD.
However, Romania ranks low on expectations of future mobility. The percentage of Romanian respondents who think that children born now will have a better life than the current generation was 38 percent in 2016, up from 21 percent in 2010.
