Who controls Romania’s economy: Nearly a third of workers are employed by foreign companies; Romanians rank high in EU citizenship uptake

Romania remains strongly connected to the global economy, but also dependent on it: almost a third of employees work in foreign-controlled companies.

According to data published by the National Institute of Statistics and Eurostat, Germany, France, and the United States dominate the list of investors who control subgroups of companies in Romania.

At the same time, tens of thousands of Romanians obtain citizenship in other EU countries annually. Germany, Spain, and Italy are the main destinations for new citizens of the European Union.

Official data also shows another gap: Romanians live, on average, a few years less than the rest of Europeans.

• Romania's Economic Map: Where Romanian Companies Dominate and Where Foreigners Are Majority Shareholders

Germans Dominate the Economy: Nearly 19% of Employees

In 2024, the year for which the most recent complete data is available, over 113,000 groups of enterprises were identified in Romania, the overwhelming majority of which are multinational. Of these, over 107,000 are controlled from abroad.

The data shows that the influence of foreign capital is significant in the labor market:

• 27.3% of employees work in foreign-controlled companies
• 20.1% of employees are in companies controlled by the top 10 investing states

Germany leads the ranking by a wide margin: companies controlled by German investors employ 18.9% of the total employees in these groups. France follows (10.5%) and the USA (9.3%).

Most companies in these groups operate in trade, a trend that has been maintained for several years.

• Romanians, Migration Champions: Over 3 Million Live in Other EU Countries. 1 in 6 Romanians Lives Abroad

Romanians in the Top of Those Leaving

On the other hand, the mobility of Romanians remains high. Almost 1.2 million people obtained citizenship of an EU state in 2024, and Romanians rank fourth in this classification.

Approximately 40,000 Romanians have become citizens of other EU member states, surpassed only by citizens from Turkey, Syria, and Morocco.

The majority of new EU citizens come from outside the Union, but Romanians remain among the most numerous Europeans choosing to change their citizenship.

• Germany – 288,700 (24.5% of total)
• Spain – 252,500 (21.4%)
• Italy – 217,400 (18.5%)

Most of the highest values of life expectancy are recorded in regions of Spain, Italy, and Sweden, where they exceed 85 years.