ABSTRACT
Shrinkage is a common phenomenon for cities in many European regions. Many Romanian cities have experienced population decline due to the post-communist changes. The demographic changes had the highest impact on cities with more than 300,000 inhabitants, which aggravated the disparities between the capital and the next largest Romanian cities. The economic and social factors that mostly influenced the urban shrinkage process is related to the migration behaviour of Romanian citizens in the past 20 years. Internal migration and the urbanrural movement is also an important factor causing urban shrinkage and was induced by the deindustrialization process, the restitution of agricultural land in 1991 and the liberalization of residence choice. The deindustrialization process and the economic transition left many workers unemployed and induced their return to the eastern part of Romania, which resulted in increasing population in cities like Pascani, Suceava, Falticeni and Raduti.
