Social-Demographic Evolution of FRCCF Urban Community Development Programme Families

The data from this report were gathered annually (2001-2004) through a questionnaire applied to the FRCCF beneficiary families living mostly in urban areas: Cluj-Napoca, Cîmpia Turzii, Oradea and Satu Mare. 1,213 families were interviewed and the answers were given by an adult family member.

Family Structure
- The average number of family members is 5.2, while the national urban average is 3.2.
- 39.6% are single-parent families: 35.7% of them - only the mother, and in 3.9% only the father.
- In 5.6% (68 cases) of the families, the children are raised by grandparents or other relatives.
- The number of families with at least three children is high: 40% in 2004.





Parent's Employment Structure

Employment and Education Structure - Mother

- More than half - 62.4% - of the women are unemployed. This percentage is so high due to the fact that they have little training.
- Under 35-year-old women's unemployment is also due to their low education level: 9.1% of them are illiterate, 7.9% have four grades and 37.1% have finished compulsory schooling.
- 28.6% of the 36 to 45-year-old mothers finished high school, college or university, while only 16.7% of the young mothers have a high school degree. None of these young mothers has higher education studies.
- The percentage of retired young mothers is alarmingly high: 6% and 8% compared to 8% for the over 45-year-old mothers.

Employment and Education Structure – Father

- 43% of the fathers are unemployed, and 17% of them say they have no income source.
- Although according to their age they are still considered active, 43% of the 35 to 45-year-old fathers don't have a job. Most of them are head of family and have at least one minor in their care.





Family Income
- A national study carried out in 2004 in urban areas showed that 1.4% of the families have a monthly income / family member under 300,000 ROL, and 8.7% of the families, 900,000 ROL. As to FRCCF-assisted families, these percentages are 12%, and 50% respectively.
- Half of the families enrolled (589 cases) live below the absolute poverty threshold (under 1 USD a day).
- 7.1% (86 cases) of the families have the child state benefits as the only income source.
- In 12.7% of the families the adult family members have occasional work incomes.
- 14.5% of the families benefit from guaranteed minimum income.
- In 26.5% of the families, at least one member is retired.
- In 38.6% of the families, all family members are unemployed, and in 37.8% only one adult is employed and has a salary.
- 46% of the FRCCF-assisted families have at least one debt (like the ones listed in Table 2). 28% of the families (341 cases) have one kind of debt and 11% (136 cases) have two kinds of debt.
- The number of families with arrears is high (see Table 2). This explains the great number of FRCCF emergency aids granted for paying arrears.
- 12% of families have other kind of debts as well (mainly for consumer goods: TV, washing machine), bank interests, fines, financial debts to relatives, neighbours or moneylenders.
- Women earn less than men. The average income of mothers is 1,400,000 ROL, while the average income of men is 2,600,000 ROL. 74% of the 1,119 interviewed mothers and 50% of the men have under minimum wage monthly incomes (2,800,000 ROL when the questionnaires were applied).

Table 1. 2004 Monthly Income Comparison

Table 2. Arrears of FRCCF beneficiary families

Living Conditions

- The biggest living conditions indicator difference between FRCCF beneficiary families and the national urban average regards facilities :

Households with Consumer Goods

- The families enrolled in urban community development programmes have households endowed with fewer consumer goods than the national urban average .
- The highest difference regards communication means. In nationwide urban areas, 3.7 more households have landline or mobile phones than FRCCF beneficiary families.
- 97% of the nationwide urban households have a TV, while every fifth FRCCF beneficiary family does not have this consumer good. 90% of the urban households in Romania have a colour TV, but only 55% of the 1,213 FRCCF-monitored families have that. A quarter of the families have a black and white TV.

Table 4. Consumer Goods Endowment of FRCCF Households

FRCCF Services

- Four of five families needed an emergency aid, which is granted twice a year to the families going through a crisis situation. Most of emergency aids were granted to cover utility costs (31% of families), buy clothes (20% of families) and school supplies for children (16.6% of families). One third of the beneficiaries (mainly children) accessed the community centre services at least once last year.
- A quarter of the families were provided other services than the ones mentioned above.
- 7.3% of families received emergency aids from other institutions or organisations.




Healthcare

Almost 40% of the members of the FRCCF-assisted families have at least one health problem.

The most frequent diseases are:
- 17% heart condition;
- 11.3% digestive disorders;
- 12.8% breathing disorders;
- 11.3% psychiatric troubles.