If you look at the numbers, it looks like we solved the internet problem. In 2025, 89.1% of households in Romania will have internet at home. Almost 9 out of 10. And among Romanians between 16 and 74 years old, 95.1% have used the Internet at least once in their lives, the INS said in a statement on Tuesday.
The city is almost “full”. The village is still recovering
In urban areas, 92.6% of households have internet. In rural areas, 84.8%. The difference is not as huge as it was 10-15 years ago, but it is enough to matter in education, work, access to services, even to the doctor.
And if we look regionally, connected Romania has two speeds. One, made up of Bucharest–Ilfov, the Center and the Banat area (with over 90% connected families) and Moldova, Muntenia and Oltenia (under 90%).
Tuesday's release from Statistics comes with a very interesting detail that says a lot about how we live: 99.1% of households with 3 or more people are connected. Basically, where there are children, the Internet almost certainly exists.
Instead, the largest year-over-year increase occurs in one-person households: +1.8 percentage points
This is a small statistic, but full of meaning: Romania is getting older, it is fragmenting into lonely people, and the Internet is becoming their last constant connection with the world.
Almost all Romanians use the Internet. But not all the same
Among Romanians between 16 and 74 years old: 98% used the Internet in the last 3 months, three quarters use it several times a day and almost 20% daily or almost daily
Payments, work, banking, tickets, doctor's appointments, school, relationships—they've all moved online. Whoever is not there is automatically marginalized.
Age remains the biggest dividing line
Among young people, the problem almost does not exist anymore: 16–34 years: 99% use the Internet. At 35-54 years old: 97.9% are net users, and at 55-74 years old, about: 88% use it.
Almost 1 in 9 Romanians between the ages of 55 and 74 has never used the Internet.
Not because they aren't capable. But because they didn't need it when they were still working, they weren't obliged administratively, they didn't have anyone to help them.
The real problem is not a lack of technology. The problem is that the state, banks, doctors and companies have already gone completely online. And some people don't.
Romania is above the EU average in internet usage
A little statistical pride, rightfully so: In 2024, 94% of Romanians between 16 and 74 years old have used the Internet in the last 12 months, above the EU average of 93.7%.
We are over Malta, Croatia and several other member states. Denmark is the only one with 100%.
The big illusion: “everyone is online, so everyone is doing digitally”. However, even if you have the internet, this does not mean that you know how to protect yourself from fraud, that you know how to manage your money online, that you can apply for a job, or that you know how to use the state's digital platforms.
Romania solved the infrastructure faster than it solved the real digital literacy.
We are connected, we have high download speed, we are above the European average. But we are also fragmented, unequal, aging and digitally vulnerable.
The Internet is no longer a competitive advantage. It is the new threshold of social survival.
