School-age population makes up over 25pct of Romania's resident population in 2020

Romania's school-age population in 2020 was over 4.844 million people, making up 25.2% of the country's total resident population, the National Institute of Statistics (INS) reported on Monday, ahead of October 5, World Teachers' Day.

In the school/academic year 2020-2021 the school-age population was 3.494 million children, pupils and students. Out of the total school population, 49.8% were male children, pupils and students and 73% were studying in urban areas.

"Almost half of the school-age population was found in primary and secondary schools (45.5%), and about a third in nursery and kindergartens (17.8% and 15%, respectively). Most of the school-age population (94.7%) was in public schools, with the remaining 5.3% in private schools," according to an INS press release.

By regions, most of the school-age population in the school/academic year 2020-2021 was found in Nord-Est (601,100 people) and Bucharest-Ilfov (517,600 people).

Most of the schools operational in 2020-2021 were mainly primary and secondary schools (57.4%), followed by high schools (21.0%), and nurseries and kindergartens (16.9%).

According to INS data, there were 235,600 teachers in the same school/academic year. "The average student-teacher ratio was 15 to one. Female teachers were a majority both in the pre-university education and the entire education system," according to INS.

In 2020, 28.4% of all households in Romania had children: 16.1% - one child; 9.7% - two children; 1.9% - three children; 0.7% - four children and more. Most households with more than four children were recorded in Nord-Est.