Romania’s Social Progress in European and Global Context

Our research paper is part of the larger-scale theme regarding the Romania’s readiness for accession to the Euro Area in terms of the real convergence. Our analysis extends the real economic convergence to the sphere of social convergence. The purpose of the extended analysis is a) to verify findings on the trend of real economic convergence, measured by the GDP/capita (PPP), b) to compare the living standards in Romania and other European Union member states (EU-28) and c) to draw conclusions on the social convergence as a complement to real economic convergence. For the first time in Romania and the EU we have used in our analysis a new global composite indicator, the Social Progress Index 2015 (SPI 2015, USA). Intended contribution of our SWOT analysis is focused on identifying the strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities in the social development of Romania, which could be used as a benchmark by the policy makers in addressing the economic and social policies to eliminate the weaknesses and to transform the threats into opportunities.