Romania: Eastern Europe beauty markets series with Euromonitor

We got an expert’s perspective on Eastern European markets, looking at how they are impacting the wider EMEA and global industry.

Here, we consider growing concern over the side effects of beauty and personal care products being seen in Romania, with exclusive insights from Euromonitor International​​, market research provider.

Baby and child-specific products growing​

Products targeted at the youngest demographic are seeing rising popularity in Romania, according to Euromonitor, with the firm suggesting this trend is the result of a shift in maternity legislation.

Starting from January 2016, the legislation governing maternity allowance in Romania was changed.

The upper limit of the maternity allowance was erased, thus allowing high-income mothers to receive 85% of the income they received prior to going on maternity.

Until 2016, the upper limit was set at RON3,400 (EUR750) for one-year’s maternity leave and at RON1,200 (EUR260) for two years of maternity leave.

The demographic effects of the new scheme were already visible, as high-income families became more willing to have a child.

The number of newborn babies increased by 2% in the first part of 2016 in comparison with the same period in 2015.

The new support scheme is targeted especially towards the more affluent section of the young population, which were negatively discriminated against before, as they received only a small part of their former income while being on maternity leave.