Romania’s AI Workforce Literacy Outpaces Hungary, Czech Republic and Bulgaria, according to the new Outsourcing Readiness Index

Romania leads Central and Eastern Europe in the balance between population AI adoption and workforce AI literacy, even as its overall readiness score remains moderate.

Romania’s outsourcing workforce is more AI-literate than the workforces of three of its four Central and Eastern European (CEE) peer destinations. With a workforce AI literacy score of 63, Romania ranks ahead of Hungary (54), Czechia (59), and Bulgaria (56), and is surpassed only by Poland (70) among the CEE outsourcing destinations included in the index.

Read the report here: Global Outsourcing Talent Index – Ataraxis

This is the key finding for Romania in new global data on AI workforce readiness.

The 2026 Global AI Readiness Index for Outsourcing, recently published by Ataraxis, ranks the world’s top 25 outsourcing destinations based on population AI adoption, workforce AI literacy, enterprise AI adoption, and the AI education pipeline.

Romania ranks 13th globally out of 25 leading destinations, ahead of all African destinations included in the index and all Latin American destinations except Brazil, Chile, and Argentina.

2026 INDEX DATA RELEVANT TO ROMANIA

Overall AI Readiness

Romania records an overall AI readiness score of 59.4 out of 100, placing it in the upper half of the 25 destinations included in the index.

Romania ranks ahead of the Dominican Republic (54.85), Peru (50.3), Egypt (49.35), Nigeria (49.15) and eight other destinations.

Workforce AI Literacy: Romania’s Relative Strength

Romania’s workforce AI literacy score of 63 is its strongest relative dimension.

It exceeds the scores of:

• Hungary — 54
• Czechia — 59
• Bulgaria — 56

Among the five CEE destinations included in the index, Romania is surpassed only by Poland, with a score of 70.

The findings suggest that the AI capabilities of Romania’s workforce are deeper than the outsourcing industry narrative typically indicates.

Population AI Adoption

Romania’s population AI adoption score of 69 is equal to that of the Philippines and ranks 10th globally.

Romania scores ahead of:

• Czechia — 61
• Poland — 57
• Indonesia — 57

AI Education Pipeline

Romania’s AI education pipeline score of 62 places it 11th out of 25 destinations globally.

It ranks ahead of Argentina (57), South Africa (53), Egypt (53) and 10 other destinations, indicating a workforce foundation in AI that continues to strengthen over the long term.

A BALANCED AI PROFILE FOR THE CEE REGION

Romania has one of the most balanced AI profiles in Central and Eastern Europe.

Only six points separate population AI adoption (69) from workforce AI literacy (63). This is the second-smallest gap among the five CEE destinations included in the index; only Czechia, with a two-point gap, is more closely aligned.

The gap is significantly smaller than the 32-point gap in Hungary and the 26-point gap in Bulgaria.

This suggests that AI adoption in Romania is translating more consistently into workforce capability than it is in several of its regional peer destinations.

ROMANIA WITHIN REACH OF TWO MORE DESTINATIONS

Romania’s overall AI readiness score of 59.4 is only 1.8 points behind Poland (61.2) and 1.65 points behind Indonesia (61.05).

This means that modest improvements in any of the index’s sub-indicators could move Romania ahead of two additional destinations in the global ranking.

About the Index

The 2026 Global AI Readiness Index for Outsourcing, published by Ataraxis, evaluates the world’s top 25 outsourcing destinations across four dimensions: population AI adoption, workforce AI literacy, enterprise AI adoption, and the AI education pipeline.