Demographic ageing vulnerabilities in the North-East Region of Romania

: The phenomenon of demographic ageing can be considered a social hazard which, depending on its size, can produce strong socio-economic imbalances in the region or state in which it occurs. This phenomenon takes place independently and cannot be easily stopped by legislative measures, as it is known that the restoration of structural imbalances in relation to age requires a long time. In Romania, the transformations that took place after 1989, in the political and economic system, in the social life, as well as in the mentality of the people, brought about important demographic changes. Therefore, the number of the population continuously decreased year by year, the demographic ageing along with the decrease of the birth rate and the increase of the number of emigrants being the main demographic phenomena that made their presence felt. These phenomena have manifested themselves mainly in rural areas. This paper aims to highlight the scale of the demographic ageing process in the rural areas of the North-East Region and to assess its socio-economic consequences in the medium and long term.