This paper analyses the changes from Romania and of the Romanian society since the regime change from december 1989 to our days. Th e interpretation of social changes as development has been operationalised based on the component analysis also supported by the UN and OECD according to which social relationships are analysed according to components. Th ese components have been measured by means of diff erent economic and social indicators and two approaches have been borne in mind: the fi rst one is external comparison whereby we shall analyse the situation of Romania and Hungarians from Transylvania in comparison with Europe and Central and Eastern Europe, i.e. in a regional comparison, while the second one is the analysis of changes in time whereby we review the changes that have taken place since the regime change in 1989/90 according to components, with a special view to Transylvania and Hungarians, when data allow it.
We are searching for an answer to three research questions. One refers to the changes that we can observe, if we can talk about development in Romania between 1990 and 2016, in which dimensions is this stronger and to what extent does it refer to Hungarians from Romania/Transylvania? Moreover, what is the extent of development in Romania in the he context of Central and Eastern Europe? And last, does the EU integration process manifest itself in relation to social-economic development in the Central and Eastern European region and if yes, to what extent?
Keywords: social change, GDP, Human development index, Romania, Europe
