Nearly seven in ten Romanians said they are worried about the possibility of the country being drawn into a war in the coming years, according to the recently released National Security Barometer. At the same time, just over half still consider Romania a safe country from a national security perspective.<\/p>\n
The study, conducted by INSCOP Research at the request of Strategic Thinking Group, is based on two survey waves carried out between late February and mid-March 2026 on representative samples of 1,100 respondents each.<\/p>\n
Concerns about security have intensified in recent weeks. The share of respondents who said they are \u201cvery worried\u201d about Romania\u2019s possible involvement in a war rose from 31% before the escalation of tensions in the Middle East (February 23-27) to 36.9% in early March. Overall, 68% of respondents expressed at least some level of concern.<\/p>\n
Despite these fears, perceptions of safety remain relatively balanced, the survey found. Around 51.1% of Romanians describe the country as either \u201cvery safe\u201d or \u201crather safe,\u201d while roughly 46% see it as unsafe to varying degrees.<\/p>\n
When asked about the biggest threats to national security, respondents pointed first to domestic issues. Corruption was cited by 35.3% as the main risk, followed by disinformation and manipulation (19.4%), and economic instability (18.7%). External threats such as military aggression were mentioned by just 5.8% of respondents.<\/p>\n
The survey also revealed strong support for Romania\u2019s Western orientation. Nearly 77% believe the country should align with the European Union, the United States, and NATO, while only 10.1% favor a shift toward Eastern powers such as Russia or China.<\/p>\n
Public backing for NATO membership remains high, with 84.4% opposing any exit from the alliance. Similarly, 74.4% of respondents reject the idea of leaving the European Union.\u00a0<\/p>\n
At the same time, Romanians showed caution toward more sensitive defense policies. A majority oppose hosting nuclear weapons on Romanian territory, while opinions are divided on participating in a potential extension of France\u2019s nuclear umbrella.<\/p>\n
Trust in international partners varies, with the United States ranking highest at 55.8%, followed by the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Poland (over 41%). At the lower end, trust levels are significantly lower for Ukraine and Russia.<\/p>\n
The study also found continued reliance on NATO for security. Around 38.3% of respondents believe the alliance would play the primary role in defending Romania in case of an attack, while 75.6% expect the United States to honor NATO\u2019s collective defense clause.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, support for increased defense spending is also strong, with more than three-quarters of respondents backing higher military budgets to strengthen national security.<\/p>\n
irina.marica@romania-insider.com<\/p>\n
(Photo source:\u00a0Emil Oprisa<\/a>\/Dreamstime.com<\/a><\/em>)<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Nearly seven in ten Romanians said they are worried about the possibility of the country being drawn into a war in the coming years, according to the recently released National Security Barometer. At the same time, just over half still consider Romania a safe country from a national security perspective. The study, conducted by INSCOP […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9388"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9388\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}