Romania

==== NATO and EU integration ====
[[File:Tratado de Lisboa 13 12 2007 (081).jpg|thumb|left|Romania joined the [[European Union]] in 2007 and signed the [[Treaty of Lisbon]].]]

After the end of the [[Cold War]], Romania developed closer ties with Western Europe and the United States, eventually joining [[NATO]] in 2004, and hosting the [[2008 Bucharest summit|2008 summit]] in Bucharest.<ref>{{cite news|title=NATO update: NATO welcomes seven new members|url=http://www.nato.int/docu/update/2004/04-april/e0402a.htm|publisher=[[NATO]]|access-date=31 August 2008|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080911134550/http://www.nato.int/docu/update/2004/04-april/e0402a.htm|archive-date=11 September 2008|df=dmy-all}}</ref> The country applied in June 1993 for membership in the [[European Union]] and became an Associated State of the EU in 1995, an Acceding Country in 2004, and a [[2007 enlargement of the European Union|full member]] on 1&nbsp;January 2007.<ref>{{cite news |title=EU approves Bulgaria and Romania|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/5380024.stm|work=[[BBC News]]|access-date=31 August 2008|date=26 September 2006|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081203223404/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/5380024.stm|archive-date=3 December 2008}}</ref>

During the 2000s, Romania had one of the highest economic growth rates in Europe and has been referred at times as "the Tiger of Eastern Europe".<ref name="autogenerated2">{{cite web|url=http://www.adevarul.ro/articole/romania-tigrul-estului/354061 |title=Adevarul|publisher=Adevarul.ro|access-date=25 September 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080920030429/http://www.adevarul.ro/articole/romania-tigrul-estului/354061|archive-date=20 September 2008}}</ref> This has been accompanied by a significant improvement in living standards as the country successfully reduced domestic poverty and established a functional democratic state.<ref name="hdrstats.undp.org">[http://hdrstats.undp.org/en/countries/country_fact_sheets/cty_fs_ROM.html Human Development Report 2009 – Country Fact Sheets – Romania] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131101131652/http://hdrstats.undp.org/en/countries/country_fact_sheets/cty_fs_ROM.html |date=1 November 2013}}. Hdrstats.undp.org. Retrieved on 21 August 2010.</ref><ref>[http://www.mdgmonitor.org/factsheets_00.cfm?c=ROM&cd=642# Tracking the Millennium Development Goal] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131126063611/http://www.mdgmonitor.org/factsheets_00.cfm?c=ROM&cd=642 |date=26 November 2013}}. MDG Monitor. Retrieved on 21 August 2010.</ref> However, Romania's development suffered a major setback during the [[Great Recession|late 2000s' recession]] leading to a large gross domestic product contraction and a budget deficit in 2009.<ref name=wsj4dec09>{{cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB125988241065975639|newspaper=[[The Wall Street Journal]]|title=Romania Faces Crucial Vote|date=4 December 2009|author=Joe Parkinson|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170710033758/https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB125988241065975639|archive-date=10 July 2017}}</ref> This led to Romania borrowing from the International Monetary Fund.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imf.org/en/Countries/ROU|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150409084621/https://www.imf.org/external/country/ROU/index.htm|url-status=dead|title=Romania and the IMF|archive-date=9 April 2015|website=IMF}}</ref> Worsening economic conditions led to [[2012 Romanian constitutional crisis|unrest]] and triggered a political crisis in 2012.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.seejps.ro/volume-i-number-iii-ideologies-and-patterns-of-democracy/38-romanian-politics-in-2012-intra-cabinet-coexistence-and-political-instability.html|title=Romanian Politics in 2012: Intra-Cabinet Coexistence and Political Instability|work=South-East European Journal of Political Science|author1=Gheorghe Stoica|author2=Lavinia Stan|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140224152657/http://www.seejps.ro/volume-i-number-iii-ideologies-and-patterns-of-democracy/38-romanian-politics-in-2012-intra-cabinet-coexistence-and-political-instability.html |archive-date=24 February 2014}}</ref>

[[File:2008 Bucharest summit (5).JPG|thumb|right|Romania joined [[NATO]] in 2004 and hosted [[2008 Bucharest summit|its 2008 summit]] in Bucharest.]]

Near the end of 2013, ''[[The Economist]]'' reported Romania again enjoying "booming" economic growth at 4.1% that year, with wages rising fast and a lower unemployment than in Britain. Economic growth accelerated in the midst of government liberalisations in opening up new sectors to competition and investment—most notably, energy and telecoms.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.economist.com/blogs/blighty/2013/12/what-britain-forgets|title=Romania is booming|newspaper=The Economist|date=17 December 2013|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170701164338/http://www.economist.com/blogs/blighty/2013/12/what-britain-forgets|archive-date=1 July 2017}}</ref> In 2016, the [[Human Development Index]] ranked Romania as a nation of "Very High Human Development".<ref name="UNDP2016">{{cite web|url=http://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/2016_human_development_report.pdf|title=Human Development Report 2016 – "Human Development for Everyone"|publisher=[[Human Development Report|HDRO (Human Development Report Office)]] [[United Nations Development Programme]]|access-date=22 March 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170825175902/http://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/2016_human_development_report.pdf|archive-date=25 August 2017}}</ref>

Following the experience of economic instability throughout the 1990s, and the implementation of a free travel agreement with the EU, a great number of [[Romanian diaspora|Romanians emigrated]] to Western Europe and North America, with particularly large communities in Italy, Germany, and Spain. In 2016, the Romanian diaspora was estimated to be over 3.6&nbsp;million people, the fifth-highest emigrant population in the world.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.romania-insider.com/oecd-romanian-diaspora-july-2019|title=Report: Romanian diaspora, fifth largest in the world|website=Romania Insider|date=16 July 2019}}</ref>