More than 60 percent of Romanians living in urban areas could imagine moving to the countryside

The COVID-19 crisis has changed Romanians’ attitude towards living at the countryside: 59 percent of the surveyed urban Romanians state that the pandemic influenced or changed their opinion on living at the countryside, according to the Digitising Europe Pulse, a new survey commissioned by the Vodafone Institute, and conducted by Kantar, with over 15,000 interviewees from 15 European countries, including Romania.

62 percent of the surveyed urban Romanians could imagine moving to the countryside in the next one or two years.

Asked about advantages and disadvantages of the country life, 74 percent, respectively 80 percent of the surveyed Romanians living in urban areas consider the closeness to nature and its benefits for a healthy lifestyle as the biggest virtues. Only 19 percent name cheaper rents as a benefit of country life. The advantages of country life predominate for 44 percent of Romanian urban citizens.

The number one precondition for a life at the countryside is by far a good internet connection: 69 percent of surveyed urban Romanians say it’s a must-have; for 25 percent it´s a nice to have. This finding is consistent for all European countries.

In fact, reliable internet connection was deemed more important than good health infrastructure, which 54 percent of surveyed Romanians agreed this is essential, or good public transport which 42 percent agreed was a ‘must-have’. 46 percent consider good educational institutions as an essential pre-requisite.