December 2025 Analysis Reveals Troubling Economic Signals as Business Closures Outpace New Registrations by 37%

Romania’s business landscape ended 2025 on a deeply concerning note, with December data revealing a sharp 22.7% month-over-month decline in new company registrations coupled with a staggering 15,924 business exits—creating a net loss of 4,292 companies in just one month. The data paints a picture of an economy where business closures are dramatically outpacing new formations, raising serious questions about the sustainability of Romania’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Registration Freeze: A December to Forget

December 2025 saw only 11,632 new business registrations , a dramatic 22.7% drop from November’s 15,051 registrations . While year-over-year comparisons show a 45.9% increase from December 2024’s 7,974 registrations, this growth appears misleading when viewed in the context of the broader business lifecycle crisis.

The 12-month moving average of 12,790 registrations now sits comfortably above December’s actual performance, indicating that the month’s results were significantly below the recent trend.

Entity Type Breakdown: PFA Explosion Masks Structural Weakness

The registration data reveals a concerning shift toward individual entrepreneurship at the expense of more stable corporate structures:

• SRLs (Limited Liability Companies): 7,629 registrations , representing 65.6% of total registrations
• PFAs (Individual Enterprises): 3,650 registrations , a staggering 108.9% year-over-year increase
• Other entity types: Show minimal activity, with only 9 SA registrations and 8 CA registrations

The explosive growth in PFA registrations suggests a worrying trend: entrepreneurs may be opting for simpler, less capital-intensive structures, potentially indicating reduced confidence in long-term business viability or difficulty accessing capital for more substantial corporate entities.

Industry Concentration: Transportation Dominance Raises Stability Concerns

The top industries for December registrations reveal a potentially risky concentration:

1. Transport and Storage: 1,832 registrations
2. Wholesale and Retail Trade: 1,621 registrations
3. Professional, Scientific and Technical Activities: 1,088 registrations
4. Information and Communications: 1,079 registrations
5. Manufacturing: 1,018 registrations

The transportation sector’s 55.8% year-over-year growth is particularly striking, while manufacturing’s 226.3% surge appears dramatic but comes from a very low base of just 312 registrations in December 2024.

Regional Disparities: Capital Dominance Intensifies

Bucharest continues to dominate Romania’s business landscape, accounting for 23.1% of all December registrations with 2,683 new businesses . This concentration raises concerns about regional economic imbalances and the sustainability of business ecosystems outside major urban centers.

Notable regional growth leaders include:

• Maramureș: 125.9% year-over-year growth
• Iași: 95.1% growth
• Suceava: 92.5% growth

While these growth rates appear impressive, they represent relatively small absolute numbers and may not indicate sustainable regional economic development.

The Real Crisis: Business Exits Reach Alarming Levels

The most troubling aspect of December’s data is the business exit rate. A staggering 15,924 companies experienced lifecycle events , including:

• 5,573 dissolutions
• 8,426 deregistrations
• 1,925 suspensions

The churn rate—business exits as a percentage of registrations—reached an alarming 136.9% . This means that for every 100 new businesses registered, 137 existing businesses exited the market.

Ecosystem Health: Negative Net Growth Deepens

The business ecosystem health metrics reveal a system in distress:

• Net Growth: -4,292 companies
• Health Ratio: 0.73 (registrations ÷ exits)
• Health Ratio Trend: -0.19

The negative net growth of 4,292 companies represents the largest monthly contraction in recent memory, while the declining health ratio trend indicates worsening conditions over time.

Year-over-Year Comparison: A False Sense of Security

While December 2025 shows a 45.9% year-over-year increase in registrations compared to December 2024 , this comparison masks the underlying crisis. The 7.9% increase in dissolutions year-over-year suggests that business failures are accelerating even as new registrations increase.

Conclusion: A Fragile Foundation for 2026

December 2025’s business registration data reveals an economy at a crossroads. The explosive growth in individual entrepreneurship (PFA registrations up 108.9% year-over-year) combined with a 22.7% month-over-month decline in total registrations and a staggering 15,924 business exits suggests a fundamental shift in Romania’s business landscape.

The transportation sector’s dominance, regional concentration in Bucharest, and alarming business exit rates all point to an ecosystem that may be growing in quantity but deteriorating in quality. As Romania enters 2026, policymakers and economic analysts must address the structural issues revealed by this data: the sustainability of individual entrepreneurship, regional economic imbalances, and the troubling rate of business failures that threatens to undermine economic stability.

The net loss of 4,292 companies in a single month cannot be dismissed as seasonal variation—it represents a significant contraction in Romania’s business base that will have ripple effects throughout the economy in the coming year.