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Policy profile on 12 axes

How Romania Is Governed

Romania is a unitary state that scores 0.46 out of 1 on the V-Dem Liberal Democracy Index (2025). Government spending is 40% of GDP (IMF, 2025), the death penalty is abolished and same-sex couples have no legal recognition. Below: the laws, institutions and public spending of Romania, scored on the same 12 axes as the test, with every indicator and source.

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Policy profile

The 12 axes, indicator by indicator

This profile describes the country's policy regime (laws, institutions and public spending) from published indices, not the views of its people or its current leaders. Data as of October 2026; each value shows its own year.

Ownership+0.20PublicPrivate4 indicators and sources
  • State ownership of the economy (coded tier): State controls major firms in several sectors beyond utilities (energy, banking, telecom, mining, transport) (2026). Source
  • Index of Economic Freedom 2026: Property Rights (0-100): 81 (2026). Source
  • Index of Economic Freedom 2026: Investment Freedom (0-100): 70 (2026). Source
  • Index of Economic Freedom 2026: Financial Freedom (0-100): 60 (2026). Source
Markets+0.20PlannedFree5 indicators and sources
  • Index of Economic Freedom 2026: Business Freedom (0-100): 74.4 (2026). Source
  • Index of Economic Freedom 2026: Labor Freedom (0-100): 63.6 (2026). Source
  • Index of Economic Freedom 2026: Monetary Freedom (0-100): 72.7 (2026). Source
  • Regulatory Quality, estimate (-2.5 to 2.5): 0.27 (2025). Source
  • State ownership of the economy (coded tier): State controls major firms in several sectors beyond utilities (energy, banking, telecom, mining, transport) (2026). Source
Welfare+0.10SharedSelf-reliant4 indicators and sources
  • General government total expenditure (% of GDP): 40.33 (2025). Source
  • Public social spending (% of GDP): 17.57 (2021). Source
  • Domestic general government health expenditure (% of GDP): 4.33 (2023). Source
  • Index of Economic Freedom 2026: Tax Burden (0-100): 89.1 (2026). Source
Authority-0.20DemocraticStrong leader2 indicators and sources
  • Liberal Democracy Index (0-1): 0.46 (2025). Source
  • Judicial constraints on the executive (0-1): 0.75 (2025). Source
Security-0.50LibertyOrder4 indicators and sources
  • Freedom in the World civil liberties score (0-60): 48 (2025). Source
  • World Press Freedom Index score (0-100): 67.71 (2026). Source
  • Death penalty status: Abolished for all crimes (2025). Source
  • Prison population per 100,000 people: 129 (2025). Source
Structure+0.10LocalCentral2 indicators and sources
  • Territorial form of the state: Unitary state (2025). Source
  • Strong elected regional governments index (0-1): 0.89 (2025). Source
Morality-0.45ProgressiveTraditional3 indicators and sources
  • Same-sex marriage law (0 marriage, 1 civil union or partnership, 2 no recognition, 3 constitutional or statutory ban): No legal recognition (2026). Source
  • Abortion law: On request (within a gestational limit) (2025). Source
  • Women, Business and the Law: Legal Framework Index (0-100): 90.7 (2025). Source
Religion-0.35SecularReligious2 indicators and sources
  • Religion and the state: Secular state that recognizes, funds or partners with religions (concordats, church tax, recognized faiths), or religious personal-status law for some groups (2025). Source
  • Blasphemy or religious-insult law in force: None (2025). Source
Technology-0.15EmbraceCaution3 indicators and sources
  • Research and development expenditure (% of GDP): 0.52 (2023). Source
  • Nuclear power policy: Building or officially planning new reactors (2025). Source
  • Genetically modified crop cultivation: None grown, no ban (2025). Source
Culture+0.25MulticulturalNational identity4 indicators and sources
  • International migrant stock (% of population): 3.45 (2024). Source
  • Citizenship by birth in the territory: None: citizenship by descent only (2025). Source
  • Residence required for ordinary naturalization (years; 0 = no ordinary route): 8 years (2025). Source
  • Dual citizenship for naturalizing adults: Allowed (2025). Source
Trade-0.60GlobalProtected4 indicators and sources
  • Tariff rate, applied, weighted mean, all products (%): 1.33 (2022). Source
  • Tariff rate, applied, simple mean, all products (%): 1.95 (2022). Source
  • Index of Economic Freedom 2026: Trade Freedom (0-100): 79.4 (2026). Source
  • Trade (exports + imports) (% of GDP): 76.21 (2025). Source
Foreign policy-0.70CooperationStrength5 indicators and sources
  • Military expenditure (% of GDP): 2.28 (2025). Source
  • Military conscription: None: volunteer forces or no military (2025). Source
  • Nuclear weapons status (0 none, 1 considers, 2 pursues, 3 possesses): No nuclear weapons program (2023). Source
  • Party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court: State party (2026). Source
  • Collective defense commitments: Integrated military alliance (NATO, a US mutual defense treaty, ANZUS, CSTO) (2026). Source

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Policy neighbours

Governed most like Romania

Every other country with a profile, tinted by how close its laws, institutions and public spending are to those of Romania on the same 12 axes. The percentage uses the 12 Axes match formula.

  1. 1Slovakia92%
  2. 2Croatia90%
  3. 3Hungary90%
  4. 4Bulgaria87%
  5. 5Poland86%
Least similarIran48%
World map of countries by how similar their policy regime is to RomaniaClosest: 1. Slovakia 92%, 2. Croatia 90%, 3. Hungary 90%, 4. Bulgaria 87%, 5. Poland 86%, 6. Czechia 84%, 7. Japan 84%, 8. South Korea 84%, 9. Colombia 83%, 10. Philippines 83%. Least similar: Iran 48%. Every country is in the list after the map.Romania
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FAQ

Romania: questions

How is Romania governed, on the 12 axes?

Romania is a unitary state that scores 0.46 out of 1 on the V-Dem Liberal Democracy Index (2025). Government spending is 40% of GDP (IMF, 2025), the death penalty is abolished and same-sex couples have no legal recognition. Its policy regime leans furthest toward Cooperation on Foreign policy (-0.70), Global on Trade (-0.60) and Liberty on Security (-0.50), on a scale from -1 to +1.

Which countries are governed most like Romania?

On the same 12 axes, the closest policy regimes are Slovakia (92%), Croatia (90%) and Hungary (90%). The furthest is Iran (48%). Matches use the same formula as the 12 Axes test.

Where does the data on Romania come from?

From 42 indicators dated 2021 to 2026, published by V-Dem, Freedom House, the Heritage Foundation, the IMF, the OECD, the World Bank, SIPRI, Reporters Without Borders, the World Prison Brief, UN DESA and others. Among them: a press freedom score of 67.7 out of 100 (RSF, 2026), 129 prisoners per 100,000 people (2025), military spending of 2.3% of GDP (SIPRI, 2025) and 3.4% of residents born abroad (UN DESA, 2024). Every value, year and source is listed in the profile above.

Does the profile describe what people in Romania think?

No. It describes the policy regime: laws, institutions and public spending. It does not measure public opinion or the speeches of the current government. To see which country is governed closest to your own views, take the 12 Axes test and open the country match on your result.