Educational achievement plays a significant role in the labour market, benefiting individuals and society. Graduating from high school is a key step towards better employment opportunities and a prerequisite for higher education attainment. In 2023, only 22.5% of the Romanian population graduated tertiary education, while 16.6% left education or training early. The Romanian public high school network comprises 1558 units, mostly located in urban areas. The high school enrolment rate is 83.5% in urban areas, and it drops to less than 60% in rural areas, with the country registering the highest out-of-school rate in the EU for the 15-year-old population. Spatial accessibility may influence enrolment in high schools, particularly for students living in rural or remote areas, who often face financial challenges fuelled by long distances and limited transportation options. Hence, travel distance may represent a potential barrier to completing the educational process or may determine inequalities in educational opportunities and outcomes. This paper aims to assess the spatial accessibility of the public high school network in Romania by using distance data provided by the Open Street Map API (Application Programming Interface). We examine variations in spatial accessibility based on the distribution of high school units and road network characteristics considering three variables: travel distance to the nearest high school, the average distance to three different categories of high schools, and the number of high schools located within a 20 km buffer zone. The results highlight a significant urban–rural divide in the availability of public high school facilities, with 84.1% (n = 1311) located in urban areas while 49.1% of the high school-aged population lives in rural areas. Many rural communities lack adequate educational facilities, often having limited options for high school education. The findings also show that 32% of the high school-aged population has to travel more than 10 km to the nearest high school, and 7% has no high school options within a 20 km buffer zone. This study provides insights into the educational landscape in Romania, pointing out areas with limited access to high schools, which contributes to further inequalities in educational attainment. The findings may serve as a basis for developing policies and practices to bridge the urban–rural divide in educational opportunities and foster a more equitable and inclusive education system.

Romania faces significant disparities in access to emergency healthcare. This study employs a national geospatial analysis and network-based GIS modelling to assess current spatial accessibility to emergency care services and to develop a scenario-based spatial model for Romania, aiming to improve access to these services. This study is the first to design such a scenario and to do so at a national level. To improve access to the emergency network, this study proposes establishing additional emergency units at designated hospitals. Integrating national-scale data into the Network Analyst tools, we identify critical gaps in emergency service coverage, with current estimates indicating that approximately 65% of the rural population lives in areas with limited or no access to emergency care. Travel time to the nearest emergency care unit exceeds 120 min in remote rural regions, highlighting a severe spatial inequity in healthcare provision. The results show that in our scenario, the total proportion of the population that has to travel for more than 30 min to the nearest emergency care unit has dropped from almost 60.28% to 35.63% when travelling in a private car, and from 72.58% to 46.08% when travelling in an ambulance. In fact, the total number of inhabitants reaching an emergency facility within 30 min increases by more than 4.7 million when travelling by private car and by more than 5 million when travelling by ambulance. These findings underscore the importance of spatial planning in the development of healthcare infrastructure and provide quantitative, spatially explicit evidence to support infrastructure planning and policy decisions aimed at reducing the urban–rural healthcare divide. This study contributes to the broader discourse on spatial justice and health equity, offering local or national authorities a basis for developing improved healthcare policies to improve coverage and reduce the urban–rural healthcare divide.

Spatial accessibility to education represents a key component of spatial justice, yet significant disparities persist between urban and rural areas in Romania. The present paper introduces the concept of education deserts as settlements where the population lacks proper access to education within a reasonable commuting distance and travel time, with a focus on high schools. Open-source demographic and institutional data and GIS-based spatial analysis were used in identifying education deserts across Romania. These were later evaluated based on a 20 min travel time or a 25 km distance threshold computed using OpenStreetMap API data. To assess the multidimensional nature of education deserts, a Composite Demand Index (CDI) and an Access Hardship Index (AHI) have been developed. Both were integrated into a final Education Desert Index (EDI) that captures unmet demand and spatial constraints. Results indicate that 34.3% of Romanian settlements (1092 LAU2s) and 15.2% of the high school-aged population reside in education deserts, found predominantly in the country’s North-East, South, and Centre regions. These areas coincide with rural, peripheral zones characterised by infrastructural deficits and low educational attainment. Findings reveal spatial inequities in upper secondary education provision between urban and rural communities. The present study offers a replicable methodological framework for evaluating educational accessibility and supports evidence-based policymaking aimed at reducing spatial disparities in education.