Annals of the University of Petroşani, Economics, 10(2), 2010, 255-266 255 MACRO-REGIONAL DISPARITIES IN ROMANIA MARIA OŢIL, MIHAI PĂREAN * ABSTRACT: Economic disparities are disparities between levels of economic development of the areas or regions within a national economy. If economic literature has failed to explain the causes of inequalities in economic development of different regions of the EU, this issue became a priority in EU economic policy, especially after the adhesion of Greece, Spain and Portugal, countries characterized by a lower level of development from other EU countries and also marked by significant regional imbalances. European Union supports reducing disparities between different regions of Member States so that all regions and their people to benefit from economic and social advantages of the Union. This paper aims to highlight disparities between the macro-regions in Romania. Regional demarcation criterion in the NUTS system is the population’s number within a territory. Most pertinent argument is that the goal of all activities in a society lies in meeting the needs of the individual and of the community. This possibility is ensured by a certain level of economic development in the region. Less developed areas of Romania are located in Northern Moldova and in the South Eastern Romanian Plain and the more developed areas include, in addition to Bucharest and Constanta, Transylvania and Banat regions. KEY WORDS: disparities, macro-regions, regional development, demographic indicators, GDP per capita, employment rate, foreign direct investment, R&D expenditure JEL CLASSIFICATION: R11, R12 1. INTRODUCTION Differences and regional disparities exist and, hence, the authorities concern for taking long-term regional strategies designed to allocate resources to mitigate and then remove regional disparities. In such cases government intervention becomes imperative for regional policy development, but also for allocating resources for this purpose. In Romania, regional development emerged first as a necessity to correct the * Assist. Prof., Ph.D., West University of Timisoara, Romania, otil.maria@yahoo.com Lecturer, Ph.D., West University of Timisoara, Romania