tbi bank survey: Nine out of ten Romanians have postponed important decisions about their health and wellbeing over the past three years. Lack of financial resources forces many to delay medical check-ups or investigations for “someday”

Financial pressure and social instability are pushing most Romanians to place their physical and emotional health in the background. Around 88% say they have postponed at least one important health-related decision over the past three years, most often for financial reasons or because more urgent expenses arose, according to a survey initiated by tbi bank and conducted on a nationwide sample of 1,072 respondents. The most frequently postponed decisions involved medical check-ups or investigations (53%) and dental treatments (52,1%), with the main reasons cited being “more urgent expenses” (43%) and the inability to cover the full cost in a single payment (41,3%). Among all respondents, more than 30% admitted that, when deciding to delay a doctor’s visit, they thought: “I’ll take care of this someday.”

“At tbi, we believe access to care should not depend on cash flow timing,” says Ionuț Sabadac, VP Merchant Solutions, tbi. “Through our top-tier alternative payment solutions – including flexible installment options available directly at the point of need – we remove the financial barrier that stands between intention and action. Our goal is simple: to help people take care of themselves now, not later.”

Other types of postponed decisions included activities related to personal development (20,2%) and procedures associated with care, wellbeing, or aesthetics (16.6%). At the same time, the data shows that more than 42% of respondents have been postponing a health-related decision for over a year, while fewer than 10% say they do not delay such decisions at all. A retrospective analysis indicates that for 38% of those who postponed action, the main consequence was the worsening of the initial problem, while 13% reported the onset of occasional discomfort. Only 11.3% of respondents stated that postponement had no impact.

The tbi bank survey analysed how Romanians take care of their health and was conducted nationwide in January-February 2025 via the iVox platform, on a total sample of 1,072 internet users in Romania. Over 54% of participants were male, and nearly 25% of respondents reported a monthly net income exceeding 6.000 lei.