Romania ranks third in EU for youth entrepreneurship

Business Forum21 April, 2026 at 8:45 PM

In 2025, Romania recorded one of the highest shares of young entrepreneurs in the EU, with those aged 20–29 accounting for 10.3% of the country's self-employed population, according to Eurostat.

This significantly outpaces the EU average of 7.9%.

Across the bloc, 2.06 million young people have turned to self-employment, driven by technological shifts and personal innovation.

While Slovakia (12.2%) and Malta (10.5%) lead the rankings, Romania's high entrepreneurial activity exists alongside a youth employment rate of just 52.0%, which is one of the lowest in the union.

Conversely, countries like Ireland (5.1%) and Spain (5.9%) saw the lowest engagement in youth entrepreneurship.

Tags:
Romania, EU, entrepreneurship, Eurostat,