The Cost of Population Aging on The Public Pension System in Romania

This paper analyses the interrelationships between population aging and the public pension system in Romania and the economic impact of population aging on public finances. The pension reform is the only solution for the pension systems to deal with the challenges of demographic change. The paper analyses the main challenges of the pension systems at the European level: population ageing, the reduction of the active population, the consequences of the economic and financial crisis, the trends in the labour market, in order to deliver viable solutions to social decision makers for creating a suitable and sustainable pension system that should allow citizens to maintain a certain standard of living after retirement. Also, due to the structural changes that have occurred, mainly the transition to funded pension systems that involve for individuals to take more risks, we will analyse if this gradual transition to the private pension systems is the key to the sustainability of pension systems in Europe.