What were the most popular searches by Romanians on Google in 2022

As at the end of every year, Google publishes the most popular (trending) searches by Romanians in the year just ended. Each list touches on the topics and people that generated the most interest in searches initiated from Romania, the most popular events in 2022 for Romanians, what their interests were in terms of movies, series and recipes, or what questions they asked.

Predictably, the war in Ukraine was the number one topic in searches by Romanians on Google, with Ukraine, Russia and the leaders of the two countries among the most searched terms. The next most popular topic for Romanians was the population census, the most popular event in Romanian searches. Global events such as the death of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth, the Eurovision Song Contest – this year’s edition being marked by controversy, technology launches and an increasingly pressing topic on the global public agenda, which is also making its way onto the local one: climate change – are on the 2022 Google search list.

Romanian swimmer David Popovici’s success has made him one of the most Googled people in Romania. The list includes actor Will Smith, who was propelled here by the incident with Chris Rock at this year’s Oscars, and singer Florin Salam, who was (erroneously) reported dead this year. The Romanian film “Teambuilding” not only tops the list of the highest-grossing films in Romania in 2022, but also the list of searches. In the top 3 most popular movies in Google searches there is another Romanian movie, “The Three-legged Goat”, being the first time we find two Romanian movies in the top three in this top (since 2011, when Google publishes the Romanian search rankings).

What is roxadustat, Romanians asked themselves on Google, after the news about Simone Halep’s doping accusation. What are NATO, Schengen or ROBOR, Romanians asked themselves this year, reflecting the important issues on the Romanian agenda this year – the war in Ukraine, Schengen accession and the evolution of interest rates. NFT or Metavers were also on the list of questions, showing an interest in the innovations of the digital world.

Romanians searched for dinner ideas, but also for Halloween costumes or names for Instagram. Holidays to Greece and Bulgaria (the all inclusive version, to be precise) were the most popular in Google profile searches. Tenerife, Croatia, Egypt or Albania were popular destinations for holiday searches, with exotic places such as the Seychelles islands also on the list.

The most popular recipe in Romanian searches in 2022 was the recipe for brownies. In the list of recipe searches we find dishes from previous years’ top lists, such as macarons, but also some quite unusual ones, such as tempura batter or balmoș (shepherd’s pie with cheese and marzipan).

The top most popular Google searches in 2022 were made using “trending” search lists: searches that saw a strong increase in 2022 compared to 2021, over a considerable period of time, indicating an increased and sustained interest in the topic.

The lists were created using a combination of several Google services and tools, which together can provide a detailed picture of global and regional search trends. Most of the data comes from Google Trends, a public service, which shows search volume by different geographic regions, time periods and terms used.