New company formations hit a robust 14,438 in March 2026, outpacing last year by nearly 1,830 registrations — yet a rising tide of dissolutions keeps the business ecosystem in negative net growth territory.

---

A Strong Registration Rebound

Romania’s business registration activity got off to an energetic start in the first quarter of 2026. March recorded 14,438 total registrations , up from 12,612 in March 2025 — a year-on-year increase of +14.5% . The figure also sits comfortably above the 12-month moving average of 13,229 , itself up from a prior moving average of 13,077, signalling a sustained upward structural trend in new business formation.

March is historically one of the busiest registration months of the year. Entrepreneurs who resolve to start a business at the turn of the year tend to formalise their ventures in the first quarter, once administrative preparations are complete. The 2026 data fits squarely within that seasonal pattern — and then some, outperforming last March by a meaningful margin.

---

The PFA Revolution: Sole Traders Drive the Numbers

The single most striking structural shift in March 2026 is the explosive growth of PFA (Persoană Fizică Autorizată — authorised individual traders) registrations. PFAs totalled 5,806 , up from just 3,591 a year earlier — a jump of +61.7% . This surge almost single-handedly accounts for the overall registration increase, adding over 2,200 new formations compared to March 2025.

The counterpart to this rise is a notable contraction among SRL (Societate cu Răspundere Limitată — limited liability companies), Romania’s traditional corporate vehicle. SRL registrations fell from 8,511 to 7,932, a decline of -6.8% . This is not necessarily a sign of corporate retreat; rather, it likely reflects a rebalancing toward lighter-weight legal structures. PFAs carry lower setup costs, reduced administrative burdens, and simpler tax treatment — factors that tend to attract freelancers, gig-economy workers, and small-scale service providers.

II (Întreprindere Individuală — individual enterprises) also posted solid growth, up +39.2% to 618 registrations , reinforcing the broader trend toward sole-proprietor structures. Together, PFAs and IIs now account for 44.5% of all new registrations in March 2026, compared to roughly 32% in March 2025 — a substantial compositional shift in just twelve months.

---

Transport and Manufacturing Lead the Industry Surge

Industry-level data reveals which sectors are attracting the most new entrants — and the rankings have shifted considerably from a year ago.

Transport și depozitare (Transport & Storage) claimed the top spot in March 2026 with 2,419 registrations , a year-on-year increase of +41.5% from 1,709 registrations in March 2025 . This dethroned Comerț cu ridicata și cu amănuntul (Wholesale & Retail Trade), which slipped from first to second place with 1,995 registrations — a decline of -11.5% year-on-year . The retreat in retail registrations likely reflects continued pressure on small traders from e-commerce competition and cost-of-living dynamics affecting consumer spending margins.

Other standout performers include:

• Industria prelucrătoare (Manufacturing): up +54.4% to 798 registrations , the strongest growth rate among major sectors — a notable signal of revitalised interest in productive capacity.
• Agricultură, silvicultură și pescuit (Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing): up +49.8% to 403 registrations , consistent with the seasonal uptick that traditionally occurs as the spring farming season approaches.
• Activități de spectacole, culturale, sportive și recreative (Entertainment & Recreation): up +40.1% to 507 registrations .
• Informații și comunicații (IT & Communications): up +21.5% to 1,159 registrations , maintaining its position as a consistent engine of new business activity.
• Activități profesionale, științifice și tehnice (Professional, Scientific & Technical): up +19.7% to 1,569 registrations .

On the negative side, Sănătate și asistență socială (Health & Social Care) saw the sharpest contraction, falling -20.7% to 268 registrations , while Tranzacții imobiliare (Real Estate) dipped -5.4% to 424 registrations , possibly reflecting ongoing caution in the property market amid elevated financing costs.

---

Geography: Growth is Broad-Based, but Concentrated in Urban Poles

Registration growth in March 2026 was geographically widespread, with all top-10 counties posting year-on-year increases. București remained Romania’s undisputed business formation hub, recording 3,578 registrations — up +16.8% from 3,064 a year earlier — and accounting for roughly one in four new businesses nationally.

The fastest-growing major county was Timiș, up +34.7% to 819 registrations , followed by Argeș (+33.8%) and Iași (+32.4%) . The strength outside the capital — particularly in Timiș, Iași, and Dolj (+26.8%) — points to a degree of economic dynamism spreading beyond the Bucharest metropolitan corridor, though the capital-centric picture remains structurally dominant.

---

The Other Side of the Ledger: Exits and Ecosystem Health

The optimism from registration figures must be tempered by the picture on the exit side. In March 2026, total business exits — combining suspensions, dissolutions, and deregistrations — reached 15,609 , exceeding new registrations and yielding a net growth of -1,171 businesses . The resulting health ratio of 0.92 means that for every 100 businesses exiting the market, only 92 new ones are entering.

The composition of exits is worth examining closely:

• Suspensions fell -8.7% to 1,571 — a positive signal, suggesting fewer companies are temporarily mothballing operations.
• Dissolutions rose +11.6% to 5,295 — the most concerning trend, as dissolutions represent definitive legal winding-up of enterprises.
• Deregistrations increased modestly by +2.7% to 8,743 .

Despite these elevated exit numbers, the picture is meaningfully better than March 2025, when the health ratio stood at just 0.84 and net growth was a steeper -2,367 . The year-on-year improvement in net growth — from -2,367 to -1,171 — represents a significant narrowing of the gap between entries and exits, driven primarily by the surge in new registrations. Romania’s churn rate of 108.1% — exits as a percentage of registrations — is elevated, but well down from the 118.8% implied by March 2025 figures, indicating a healthier balance is gradually emerging.

---

Reading the Signals

The March 2026 data presents a nuanced but broadly constructive picture. The headline registration growth of +14.5% is substantial and broad-based across sectors and regions. The structural shift toward PFAs and individual enterprise forms suggests that entrepreneurship in Romania is becoming more accessible and diversified — a healthy sign for economic participation, even if the average scale of new ventures may be smaller than the SRL-dominated baseline of recent years.

The rise in dissolutions warrants monitoring. A sustained increase in formal company wind-downs, particularly if it concentrates in specific sectors, could signal that businesses formed during the post-pandemic rebound years of 2021–2022 are reaching the end of their viable life cycles — a natural, if sometimes painful, market correction. The drop in suspensions, however, counters a more alarming interpretation: companies are either operating or closing cleanly, rather than lingering in an unresolved intermediate state.

March’s figures extend a positive trend visible in the moving average, which has risen from 13,077 to 13,229 , indicating that momentum in new business formation has not been a one-month phenomenon but part of a durable upward trajectory in Romania’s entrepreneurial landscape.

---

Data sourced from Romania’s National Trade Register Office (ONRC) via registration and lifecycle event databases. All figures refer to March 2026 unless otherwise stated.