The size of the five-to-nine age group was of concern to the country's economists because it will provide a smaller than desirable augmentation to the labor force at the end of the 1970 decade and for the early 1980s. The seemingly much larger group that was under five years of age in 1971, on the other hand, would appear on the surface to more than compensate for the smaller one preceding it. The country's economists, however, did not believe that an alleviation of the chronic shortage of people in the most productive working ages would occur during the twentieth century. Aside from natural growth and additions and subtractions of territories and their occupants, the country's population has been comparatively stable. It has been affected to a lesser degree than others in eastern Europe by migrations during and after World War II, probably losing between 300,000 and 400,000 persons in various resettlement and population exchange movements. The largest emigration involved Jews to Israel. Israeli data show an average of about 30,000 immigrants from Romania during the three immediate postwar years, and Jewish people accounted for a major share of all emigration between then and the late 1960s. _Table 1. Romania, Population Structure, by Age and Sex, 1971 Estimate_ (in thousands) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Number of Percentage Females Age Group Total of Total Male Female for Each Population 100 Males -------------------------------------------------------------------- Under 5 2,255 11.0 1,149 1,106 96.4 5-9 1,392 6.7 713 679 95.3 10-14 1,743 8.5 892 851 95.3 15-19 1,787 8.7 911 876 95.6 20-24 1,588 7.7 806 782 97.2 25-29 1,316 6.5 666 650 97.6 30-34 1,533 7.4 757 776 102.4 35-39 1,542 7.5 773 769 99.2 40-44 1,502 7.3 752 750 99.6 45-49 1,303 6.3 623 680 109.2 50-54 806 3.9 363 443 121.7 55-59 1,020 5.0 468 552 117.8 60-64 950 4.6 452 498 110.0 65-69 737 3.6 351 386 109.6 70-74 540 2.6 235 305 129.8 75 and over 551 2.7 227 324 142.1 ----- ---- ---- ---- ----- Total population 20,565 100.0 10,138 10,427 102.8