Romania · 2002–2021

How many people are left in your commune

Three censuses counted the people of every commune, town and municipality. Find your commune and watch its column fall or rise on the 3D terrain map. Height is population, colour is change since 2002.

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Or scroll: the story, in four steps.

County totals and the steepest falls and rises are below: counties and communes.

2002–2021

Three censuses, on the map

Every column is a commune, town or municipality. Height shows the place's population; colour shows whether it fell (orange) or rose (teal) relative to 2002; changes under ±2% show cream. Scroll and the years pass over the relief.

In 2002, Romania's resident population was 21,680,974. In 2021, 19,053,815: 2,627,159 fewer (-12.1%). Of 3,181 communes, towns and municipalities, 2,661 declined (83.7%).

2002–2021

The largest falls: Caraș-Severin and Teleorman

Population fell in 40 of Romania's 41 counties and in Bucharest. The largest percentage falls among counties are in Caraș-Severin (-26%) and Teleorman (-25.8%). 619 communes, towns and municipalities lost at least a quarter of their people.

The steepest fall is Chilia Veche (Tulcea): -52.1%, followed by Bătrâna (Hunedoara) (-49.7%) and Gogoșu (Dolj) (-49.2%).

Growth

Where the teal towers grow

Ilfov is the only county that grew: 80.8%. The big rises all sit near large cities: Dumbrăvița (Timiș) (643.2%), Florești (Cluj) (606%) and Chiajna (Ilfov) (444.2%).

The map shows where population grew, but not where new residents came from. Growth in a commune near Cluj may reflect moves from several places.

What is measured

What the columns show

In “Change” mode, height is no longer population but how much the place grew or shrank since 2002. Tall columns are the largest population declines and increases.

The figures are resident population: people usually living in the commune, present or temporarily away. Years between censuses are linearly interpolated, so the animation flows.

Put your place on the map

Open the map, search a commune, town or county and pick the year at the bottom. For each place, the panel shows population at the three censuses and compares its 2002–2021 change with the national change.

How much, at each count?

Population fell at each census: from 21,680,974 in 2002 to 20,121,641 in 2011 and 19,053,815 in 2021. It fell by 1,559,333 people in the first interval and by 1,067,826 in the second.

The 518 communes, towns and municipalities that grew are under a fifth of the 2,661 that declined. The map takes no sides: it shows the teal towers and the orange stubs alike.

By county

Resident population in 2002 and 2021, the difference and percentage, for every county and Bucharest. Ordered from the steepest fall to the only rise.

Counties and Bucharest, from the steepest fall to the only rise
County	2002	2021	Change	Change, %
Caraș-Severin	333,219	246,588	−86,631	-26%
Teleorman	436,025	323,544	−112,481	-25.8%
Hunedoara	485,712	361,657	−124,055	-25.5%
Brăila	373,174	281,452	−91,722	-24.6%
Tulcea	256,492	193,355	−63,137	-24.6%
Mehedinți	306,732	234,339	−72,393	-23.6%
Olt	489,274	383,280	−105,994	-21.7%
Galați	619,556	496,892	−122,664	-19.8%
Gorj	387,308	314,685	−72,623	-18.8%
Buzău	496,214	404,979	−91,235	-18.4%
Dolj	734,231	599,442	−134,789	-18.4%
Neamț	554,516	454,203	−100,313	-18.1%
Vaslui	455,049	374,700	−80,349	-17.7%
Vâlcea	413,247	341,861	−71,386	-17.3%
Prahova	829,945	695,119	−134,826	-16.2%
Ialomița	296,572	250,816	−45,756	-15.4%
Bacău	706,623	601,387	−105,236	-14.9%
Alba	382,747	325,941	−56,806	-14.8%
Sălaj	248,015	212,224	−35,791	-14.4%
Vrancea	387,632	335,312	−52,320	-13.5%
Botoșani	452,834	392,821	−60,013	-13.3%
Argeș	652,625	569,932	−82,693	-12.7%
Călărași	324,617	283,458	−41,159	-12.7%
Giurgiu	297,859	262,066	−35,793	-12%
Dâmbovița	541,763	479,404	−62,359	-11.5%
Maramureș	510,110	452,475	−57,635	-11.3%
Arad	461,791	410,143	−51,648	-11.2%
București	1,926,334	1,716,961	−209,373	-10.9%
Mureș	580,851	518,193	−62,658	-10.8%
Harghita	326,222	291,950	−34,272	-10.5%
Covasna	222,449	200,042	−22,407	-10.1%
Satu Mare	367,281	330,668	−36,613	-10%
Constanța	715,151	655,997	−59,154	-8.3%
Bihor	600,246	551,297	−48,949	-8.2%
Sibiu	421,724	388,326	−33,398	-7.9%
Brașov	589,028	546,615	−42,413	-7.2%
Iași	816,910	760,774	−56,136	-6.9%
Suceava	688,435	642,551	−45,884	-6.7%
Bistrița-Năsăud	311,657	295,988	−15,669	-5%
Timiș	677,926	650,533	−27,393	-4%
Cluj	702,755	679,141	−23,614	-3.4%
Ilfov	300,123	542,704	+242,581	80.8%

Steepest falls and rises

Below: the ten steepest falls and the ten steepest rises, in percent, 2002–2021. Large percentages sit on small bases: a commune of a few hundred can double with a single new neighbourhood.

Steepest falls, 2002–2021
Place	2002	2021	Change, %
Chilia Veche · Tulcea	3,606	1,728	-52.1%
Bătrâna · Hunedoara	175	88	-49.7%
Gogoșu · Dolj	1,029	523	-49.2%
Întregalde · Alba	877	459	-47.7%
Bunila · Hunedoara	462	247	-46.5%
Oprișor · Mehedinți	3,122	1,681	-46.2%
C.A. Rosetti · Tulcea	1,179	636	-46.1%
Titești · Vâlcea	1,196	646	-46%
Stejaru · Tulcea	2,294	1,242	-45.9%
Pădina · Mehedinți	1,979	1,073	-45.8%

Steepest rises, 2002–2021
Place	2002	2021	Change, %
Dumbrăvița · Timiș	2,693	20,014	643.2%
Florești · Cluj	7,470	52,735	606%
Chiajna · Ilfov	8,009	43,588	444.2%
Giroc · Timiș	4,295	22,270	418.5%
Bragadiru · Ilfov	8,165	40,080	390.9%
Valea Lupului · Iași	3,075	14,510	371.9%
Moșnița Nouă · Timiș	4,298	16,424	282.1%
Șelimbăr · Sibiu	4,912	17,492	256.1%
Popești-Leordeni · Ilfov	15,115	53,434	253.5%
Miroslava · Iași	8,073	28,534	253.4%

What the map cannot know

Where people went: The map shows net change in resident population between censuses. These figures do not separate births, deaths and moves, or trace individuals' routes.
Resident population, not domicile-based: The figures count people usually living in the commune, present or temporarily away. Domicile-based population is a different, usually higher indicator: it also counts people abroad who kept a registered domicile in the country.
Years between censuses: Between 2002, 2011 and 2021, population values are interpolated linearly for the animation, and column heights are then calculated on a compressed scale. These are not annual measurements: real change comes in waves.
Abolished or split communes: The boundaries of some communes may have changed between censuses; the dataset does not yet flag individually the cases where the comparison is not like-for-like, and the figures stay those published for each year.
The column scale: In “Population” mode, height encodes population in the selected year; in “Change” mode, it encodes the number of people gained or lost since 2002. Both use a compressed scale — roughly the square root of the value — so that Bucharest and the smallest commune fit on one map; height ratios are not population ratios.
Edges: Commune boundaries are simplified to about 30 metres. The column stands on the commune's centre; on odd borders it may sit near the edge.

How we computed it and where the data come from

The censuses. Resident population of every commune, town and municipality in 2002, 2011 and 2021, from the county tables of citypopulation.de (Thomas Brinkhoff), compiled from INS censuses. We included all 3,181 communes, towns and municipalities, counting Bucharest once. We checked its six sectors separately without adding them again to the totals. The national totals match INS figures; we also checked five county totals for 2021. Bucharest appears whole, with the municipality total.

Matching to the map. We matched census rows by name and county; for 12 names that differ across sources (Petreu–Abrămuț, Sâniob–Ciuhoi, Pădina–Pădina Mare, Bira–Bâra and others) we checked the match by SIRUTA code in the geo-spatial.org LAU registry (version 2025-03-26). The page shows the registry name and finds the variants in search.

The columns. Each commune gets a column on its outline's centre. Height roughly follows the square root of the value, with a compression that keeps Bucharest on the map: in “Population” mode the value is the selected year's population, in “Change” mode it is the number of people gained or lost since 2002. Colour shows the percentage change since 2002: orange for falls, teal for rises, cream between −2% and +2%.

The terrain. Copernicus GLO-30 (European Space Agency), 30-metre resolution, reduced to about 900 metres on the page. Vertical exaggeration varies with camera distance.

Boundaries. Communes and counties: geo-spatial.org, after ANCPI data (CC BY-SA 4.0). The outlines on the page are simplified and shared under the same licence.

Sources

Thomas Brinkhoff, citypopulation.de, Romania county tables, 2002, 2011 and 2021 census columns: citypopulation.de/en/romania. The figures are INS census figures, cited with source.
INS, 2021 census, definitive results: recensamantromania.ro.
Communes and counties: geo-spatial.org, ro_admin_lau_polygon, after ANCPI, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Copernicus DEM GLO-30, ESA: doi.org/10.5270/ESA-c5d3d65.

Frequently asked questions

How much did Romania's resident population fall between 2002 and 2021?

The resident population fell from 21,680,974 in 2002 to 19,053,815 in 2021: 2,627,159 fewer people (-12.1%). Of 3,181 communes, towns and municipalities, 2,661 declined (83.7%).

Which places had the largest percentage falls and rises?

The steepest falls are Chilia Veche (Tulcea) (-52.1%), Bătrâna (Hunedoara) (-49.7%) and Gogoșu (Dolj) (-49.2%). The steepest rises are all near big cities: Dumbrăvița (Timiș) (643.2%), Florești (Cluj) (606%) and Chiajna (Ilfov) (444.2%). Ilfov is the only county that grew.

Resident population or domicile-based — which is this?

Resident population: people usually living in the commune, present or temporarily away. The domicile-based total is a different, usually higher indicator. The definitions and limits of this comparison are explained in “What the map cannot know”.