Romanians buy more long-term consumer goods

The number of long-term consumer goods rose year-on-year from 7.7 percent for cars to 30.7 percent for mobile phones.

Thus, the gap between Romanian and Central and Eastern European household equipping is narrowing, except in the case of cars, where Romania ranks among the last in terms of European countries. Only four households of 10 own a car, compared to one in two households in Poland.

The most spectacular increase in 2006 was registered in mobile phone service subscriptions. There are some 236 subscriptions per 100 households. Statistically, each household has 3.2 members. Thus, 80 percent of Romanians have a cell phone subscription.

The speed of mobile phone service coverage growth continued in 2007. According to the National Regulatory Authority for Communications and Information Technology (ANRCTI), the coverage ratio was 90 percent by mid-2007, with 19.5 million people using mobile phones. This ratio is higher than Slovakia’s 82 percent and Poland’s 73 percent. The growth of the mobile phone market has led to a drop in fixed phone lines, 7 percent lower year-on-year.

The ratio is significantly lower for washing machines. Only 74 percent of Romanian families use washing machines, compared to 96 percent of households in Slovakia. The figure is explained by the fact that several Romanian households, especially in rural areas, do not have running water. The percentage of vacuum cleaners is even lower, at a mere 60 percent for Romanian families, compared to 95 percent of households owning a TV set. In Poland, 94.2 percent of households own a vacuum cleaner and 83 percent own a washing machine.

These figures show there is a wide gap between Romanian cities and rural areas in terms of appliances, especially that need to be connected to running water or natural gas.