• More than 60% of Romanians living in urban areas could imagine moving to the countryside;
• This is a main finding of the Vodafone Institute’s Digitising Europe Pulse, a citizen survey, conducted by Kantar in 15 European countries;
• For 59% of the urban Romanians the pandemic provokes a new perception of country life;
• Advantages of country life predominate for 44% of urban Romanians;
• For 69% of urban Romanians a good internet connection is a must have and by far the number one precondition for a life at the countryside.

The COVID-19 crisis has changed Romanians’ attitude towards living at the countryside: 59% 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% 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%, respectively 80% 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% name cheaper rents as a benefit of country life. The advantages of country life predominate for 44% of Romanian urban citizens.

A good internet connection more important than good health infrastructure

The number one precondition for a life at the countryside is by far a good internet connection: 69% of surveyed urban Romanians say it’s a must-have; for 25% 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% of surveyed Romanians agreed this is essential, or good public transport which 42% agreed was a ‘must-have’. 46% consider good educational institutions as an essential pre-requisite.

How the EU and governments can realize the potential of rural communities and reinforce rural digitization along the Digital Decade targets is also being analyzed in a new report produced by Deloitte and commissioned by the Vodafone Group, Rural Connectivity Report, that can be accessed here.

Inger Paus, Managing Director of the Vodafone Institute, said:

“In light of the experiences of the pandemic, closing the gap between urban and rural life has become even more important in the European Union. As the new Digitising Europe Pulse shows, connectivity is the most necessary precondition for moving to the countryside, which still proves to be insufficient in many countries. With the Digital Decade targets in mind and investments through the Recovery and Resilience Facility directed toward digital transformation, the EU now has a unique opportunity to foster cohesion and improve the quality of life of millions of European citizens.”

Methodology

An online survey conducted by Kantar of 15,000 citizens from across 15 European countries including: Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, UK. There was a sample size of at least 1,000 interviews per country and all participants were aged 16 years or older. This research was conducted between 05.05.-16.05.2021. The complete report will be available in the upcoming weeks.

Vodafone Institute for Society and Communications

The Institute is Vodafone’s think-tank. We explore the potential and responsible use of digital technologies for innovation, growth and sustainable social impact. Through research and events, we provide thought leadership and offer a platform for dialogue between business, academia and politics.

About Vodafone

Vodafone is a leading telecommunications company in Europe and Africa. Our purpose is to “connect for a better future” enabling an inclusive and sustainable digital society. Our expertise and scale gives us a unique opportunity to drive positive change for society. Our networks keep family, friends, businesses and governments connected and – as COVID-19 has clearly demonstrated – we play a vital role in keeping economies running and the functioning of critical sectors like education and healthcare. 

Vodafone is the largest mobile and fixed network operator in Europe and a leading global IoT connectivity provider. Our M-Pesa technology platform in Africa enables over 48m people to benefit from access to mobile payments and financial services. We operate mobile and fixed networks in 21 countries and partner with mobile networks in 49 more. As of 31 March 2021, we had over 300m mobile customers, more than 28m fixed broadband customers, over 22m TV customers and we connected more than 123m IoT devices. 

We support diversity and inclusion through our maternity and parental leave policies, empowering women through connectivity and improving access to education and digital skills for women, girls, and society at large. We are respectful of all individuals, irrespective of race, ethnicity, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, belief, culture or religion.

Vodafone is also taking significant steps to reduce our impact on our planet by reducing our greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2025 and becoming net zero by 2040, purchasing 100% of our electricity from renewable sources by 2025 and by July 2021 in Europe, and reusing, reselling or recycling 100% of our redundant network equipment.

For more information, please visit www.vodafone.com, follow us on Twitter at @VodafoneGroup or connect with us on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/vodafone.