Romania recorded 13,139 new business registrations in February 2026 , marking a solid rebound from January and extending the country’s year-on-year growth streak. Yet the headline figure tells only part of the story: business exits nearly matched new entrants in the same month, painting a picture of an ecosystem where entrepreneurial energy is running high — but so is attrition.

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A Strong February, Despite Being the Shortest Month

February’s 13,139 registrations represent an 18.6% increase over January 2026’s 11,075 , consistent with the typical seasonal pattern: January tends to be sluggish as businesses finalise year-end matters, while February sees a reset of entrepreneurial activity. Year-on-year, February 2026 outpaced February 2025’s 12,099 registrations by 8.6% , adding 1,040 registrations compared to the same month last year.

The 12-month moving average now stands at 13,077 , up from 12,990 the prior month , indicating a gradual but sustained upward trend in overall registration activity. For context, the 12-month moving average in February 2025 was just 10,104 , which underscores the scale of the structural shift that has taken place in the past year.

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The PFA Surge Reshapes the Entity Mix

One of the most striking structural developments in February 2026 is the dramatic shift in entity-type composition. While SRLs (Limited Liability Companies) remain the dominant form at 7,032 registrations , this represents a 15.3% decline compared to February 2025’s 8,301 SRLs .

The counterweight is unmistakable: PFAs (Sole Proprietorships / Authorized Natural Persons) surged to 5,495 registrations , a remarkable 67.1% increase year-on-year from 3,289 in February 2025 . PFAs now represent 41.8% of all new registrations, compared to roughly 27% a year ago.

IIs (Individual Enterprises) also grew, rising 25.1% year-on-year to 563 registrations . Meanwhile, corporate formats — SAs, SNCs, and CAs — remain negligible in absolute terms, with just 2, 1, and 5 registrations respectively .

The data suggests a meaningful shift toward lighter, more flexible business structures. PFAs and IIs carry lower administrative overhead than SRLs, which may reflect both a growing freelance economy and individuals formalising activities that were previously informal.

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Transport Leads Sectoral Growth; Manufacturing Stands Out

By industry, Transport și depozitare (Transport & Storage) claimed the top spot with 2,396 new registrations , a 33.8% increase compared to February 2025’s 1,791 . This sector’s consistent dominance reflects Romania’s established role in pan-European logistics and road freight, supported by a large pool of independent trucking operators and courier businesses.

Comerț (Trade & Motor Vehicle Repair) ranked second at 1,811 registrations , though it was the only top-three sector to contract year-on-year, falling 19.3% from 2,244 in February 2025 . This decline may reflect ongoing consolidation in retail, where smaller operators are finding it harder to establish new ventures amid competitive pressure.

Activități profesionale, științifice și tehnice (Professional, Scientific & Technical Activities) held third place at 1,391 registrations , up 8.5% year-on-year — a steady showing from Romania’s tech-adjacent consulting and services sector.

The standout performer in percentage growth terms was Industria prelucrătoare (Manufacturing), which jumped 46.8% year-on-year to 800 registrations , the sharpest proportional gain among major sectors. Intermedieri financiare și asigurări (Financial Intermediation & Insurance) also posted strong growth of 36.2% year-on-year, reaching 222 registrations .

Activități de spectacole, culturale, sportive și recreative (Arts, Entertainment & Recreation) grew 34.4% year-on-year to 426 registrations , and Agricultură, silvicultură și pescuit (Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing) grew 27.8% to 290 .

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Regional Picture: Vâlcea, Sibiu and Dolj Lead Growth

București remains far and away Romania’s most active business hub, recording 2,730 registrations in February — approximately 20.8% of the national total . Ilfov, the suburban county surrounding the capital, ranked second with 795 registrations , followed by Timiș (648), Cluj (640), and Iași (575) .

In terms of growth, smaller counties outperformed the major urban centres. Vâlcea posted the highest YoY growth rate among tracked counties at +50.4% , rising from 129 to 194 registrations. Sibiu followed with +45.6% , and Dolj grew 39.5% , suggesting that entrepreneurial momentum is increasingly dispersed beyond the traditional hubs. Constanța also registered a notable +36.2% gain , reaching 500 registrations.

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Business Exits Nearly Cancel Out New Entries

The most sobering dimension of February 2026’s data is the ecosystem health picture. The month recorded 13,258 total business exits , just barely exceeding the 13,139 new registrations, resulting in a net change of -119 businesses and a health ratio of 0.99 . In other words, for every 100 businesses registered, approximately 101 exited the market.

The breakdown of exits reveals important nuance:

• Suspensions: 1,807 — temporary halts in operations, up 12.9% year-on-year
• Dissolutions: 5,663 — legal wind-downs, up 30.8% year-on-year
• Deregistrations: 5,788 — removals from the register, down 6.1% year-on-year

The sharp rise in dissolutions — up nearly a third compared to February 2025 — is the most significant lifecycle signal this month. Dissolutions are typically deliberate, legally-driven closures rather than administrative removals, which suggests a meaningful increase in businesses actively choosing to wind down. This increase may partly reflect the regularisation of companies that had been on paper-only existence, or businesses that were registered during the 2020–2021 pandemic support era and have since run their natural course.

It is worth noting, however, that February 2026’s churn rate of 100.91% is considerably healthier than January 2026’s 124.25% , when exits exceeded registrations by a much wider margin. The positive trend in the health ratio — up 0.24 points from the prior period — suggests that the gap between entries and exits is narrowing month-on-month.

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Reading the Signals

February 2026 presents a complex but coherent picture of Romania’s business landscape. The headline registration growth of 8.6% year-on-year is genuine and broad-based, anchored in a long-term structural shift toward lighter business formats — particularly the PFA — and sustained demand in transport, professional services, and manufacturing.

At the same time, the near-parity between new registrations and total exits, driven especially by surging dissolutions, serves as a reminder that headline growth figures do not capture the full dynamism of the market. The business register is both filling up and clearing out at an elevated pace. Whether that represents healthy market renewal — where less viable enterprises are replaced by fresh entrants — or a deeper episode of attrition depends on patterns that will only become clearer over the coming months.

What the February 2026 data makes clear is that Romania’s business ecosystem is active, diverse, and structurally evolving — with a distinct tilt toward smaller, more agile enterprise formats, growing entrepreneurial activity outside the largest urban centres, and a register that is consolidating even as it continues to expand.