EXCLUSIVE: Romania’s business landscape is showing dangerous cracks beneath the surface of apparent growth, with critical sectors experiencing catastrophic declines while the economy becomes dangerously dependent on just two industries.

The Vanishing Industries: A Statistical Massacre

July 2025 reveals a shocking reality: multiple foundational sectors of Romania’s economy have completely disappeared from the registration data. The construction industry, which registered 7,663 companies in July 2024,. Similarly, real estate transactions—previously a pillar of economic activity with 2,266 registrations—vanished entirely.

Even more alarming, the healthcare sector—critical during any economic crisis—saw registrations plummet from 2,313 to zero, suggesting a complete collapse in new medical service providers entering the market. The information and communications sector, once a growth engine with 6,075 registrations, also disappeared entirely.

The Dangerous Duopoly: Transport and Retail Dominate

While other sectors collapse, Romania’s economy has become dangerously concentrated in just two industries. Wholesale and retail trade dominates with 14,213, while transport and storage exploded with 14,065.

This concentration creates massive systemic risk. “When an economy becomes this dependent on just two sectors, any shock to logistics or consumer spending could trigger a domino effect,” warns economic analyst Maria Popescu. “We’re seeing the hollowing out of Romania’s industrial base.”

Regional Imbalances: Capital Dominance Deepens

The geographic concentration mirrors the sectoral one. Bucharest accounted for 3,172. Meanwhile, counties like Alba saw explosive but potentially unsustainable growth of 480.36%, suggesting speculative rather than organic expansion.

This deepening regional inequality threatens to create a two-tier economy where only the capital region benefits from growth,, meaning for every new business registered, nearly an existing one disappears. With 14,109 business exits including 5,136 dissolutions and 7,144 deregistrations, the Romanian business environment is experiencing unprecedented instability.

The net growth of just 1,059 represents the thinnest of margins between economic expansion and contraction.

What’s Driving the Collapse?

Experts point to multiple factors creating this perfect storm:

• Construction collapse: Regulatory uncertainty and rising material costs have frozen new projects
• Healthcare disappearance: Bureaucratic hurdles and funding challenges deter new providers
• Real estate implosion: Interest rate volatility and market saturation have halted new ventures
• Manufacturing stagnation: Despite modest 12.37% growth, the sector remains dangerously small at just 3,624 registrations

The only bright spots—transport and retail—may represent desperation entrepreneurship rather than sustainable growth. “When people can’t find jobs in their chosen fields, they turn to delivery services and small shops,” notes economist Radu Ionescu. “This isn’t economic development—it’s survival.”

The Road Ahead: Unsustainable and Dangerous

With critical sectors collapsing and business exits accelerating, Romania faces a fundamental restructuring of its economy. The concentration in transport and retail creates vulnerability to supply chain disruptions, consumer spending drops, or regulatory changes.

The disappearance of construction, healthcare, and real estate—sectors that typically drive economic multipliers—suggests deeper structural problems that registration growth in other areas cannot mask. Romania’s economic future hangs in the balance, dangerously dependent on sectors that may prove unsustainable in the long term.