Agricultural economy & structure

Value added and growth. Agriculture, forestry and fishing produced RON 52.8 billion of gross value added in 2025 at current prices, 3.0% of the economy's gross value added and 2.7% of GDP (own calculation), on the provisional national accounts that Eurostat released on 20 October 2026¹². The sector's share of gross value added was 5.8% in 2010 and has remained above the EU-27 share in every year since, against an EU-27 share of 1.8% in 2025¹. Real value added in the sector fell by 23.8% in 2024 and grew by 6.9% in 2025, while GDP grew by 1.1% and 0.8%¹². From 2010 to 2025 the sector's annual real growth ranged from −24.1% in 2012 to 33.2% in 2013¹.

Value added in US dollars. On the World Bank's dollar series, agricultural value added was US$12.87 billion in 2025, against US$8.80 billion in 2010 and US$13.16 billion in 2021³. From 2018 the World Bank uses an earlier edition of the national accounts, which puts value added at RON 57.51 billion in 2025 against RON 52.78 billion in the Eurostat release, so the two series differ for recent years⁴¹. On that edition agriculture accounted for 3.0% of GDP in 2025⁵.

Economic accounts for agriculture. The economic accounts, which cover the agricultural industry only, estimate its output at RON 117.77 billion in 2025, about US$26.3 billion at the year's average exchange rate (own calculation)⁶⁷. Crops contributed 60.5% of this output, animal production 25.6%, agricultural services 2.7% and inseparable non-agricultural secondary activities 11.2% (own calculations). Intermediate consumption absorbed RON 63.55 billion, which left gross value added of RON 54.22 billion at basic prices. Other subsidies on production, which are not linked to products, amounted to RON 12.70 billion and entrepreneurial income to RON 28.26 billion⁶. All 2025 values in the accounts are estimates.

Volumes and income. In volume terms the output of the agricultural industry fell by 16.5% in 2024 and grew by 8.6% in 2025 (own calculations)⁸. Crop output fell by 23.8% in 2024 and cereal output by 37.5%, while animal output fell by 5.8% in 2024 and by 6.1% in 2025 (own calculations)⁸. Indicator A, Eurostat's index of real factor income per annual work unit, fell in each year from 2022 to 2024 and rose by 28.5% in 2025 to 77.05 (2020 = 100)⁹.

Employment in the national accounts. The national accounts counted 1.48 million people employed in agriculture, forestry and fishing in 2025, 17.7% of total employment, against 2.82 million (32.3%) in 2010 and an EU-27 share of 3.8% in 2025¹¹. The 2025 figure is provisional and 307,200 lower than in 2024. Agricultural labour input, which converts work on farms into full-time equivalents, was an estimated 963,000 annual work units in 2025, against 1.64 million in 2010¹⁵.

The Labour Force Survey. The survey counted 772,400 people aged 15–74 working in the sector in 2025, 10.0% of employment (own calculation), of whom 31.1% were women¹⁶. The survey series breaks in 2021. Since the first quarter of that year people producing agricultural goods intended exclusively or mainly for self-consumption are no longer counted as employed, and the data from 2021 onwards cannot be compared directly with earlier periods¹⁷. In the second quarter of 2021, 780,000 people worked in their own agricultural household to produce goods mainly for self-consumption, in addition to the 7.84 million employed persons¹⁸. The International Labour Organization's modelled estimate, published by the World Bank, put agriculture's share of employment at 10.9% in 2025¹⁹.

Rural Romania. In 2025, 41.9% of Romanians lived in rural areas under the EU degree-of-urbanisation classification, against 24.5% in the EU-27²⁰. The World Bank's series, based on United Nations estimates and national definitions, gives 47.8%²¹. The share of the rural population at risk of poverty or social exclusion fell from 57.8% in 2015 to 39.8% in 2025, almost three times the rate in cities (13.7%) and above the EU-27 rural rate of 21.4%²².

Holdings and coverage. Eurostat defines an agricultural holding as "a single unit, both technically and economically, operating under a single management and which undertakes economic activities in agriculture within the economic territory of the European Union, either as its primary or secondary activity"²⁷. The 2023 integrated farm statistics survey counted 2,859,360 holdings in Romania with 12.55 million ha of utilised agricultural area, 32.6% of the holdings and 8.0% of the utilised agricultural area of the EU-27 (own calculations). Romania had more holdings than any other member state in 2020 and 2023²⁴. The number of holdings fell by 25.9% from 3.86 million in 2010 and by 1.0% from the 2020 agricultural census, while the average area per holding rose from 3.45 ha to 4.39 ha (own calculations)²⁴²⁸. Romania applies thresholds lower than, or additional to, those of the EU regulation, so the totals include 1.89 million holdings below the EU thresholds. The 968,320 holdings above them, 33.9% of the total, used 88.2% of the utilised agricultural area and accounted for 86.9% of the standard output in 2023 (own calculations)²⁹³⁰. The 2023 data come from a stratified sample survey³⁰.

Size of holdings. Utilised agricultural area is "the total area taken up by arable land, permanent grassland, permanent crops and kitchen gardens used by the holding, regardless of the type of tenure or of whether it is used as a part of common land"³¹. In 2023, 70.7% of holdings had over 0 to less than 2 ha of it, and 90.2% had less than 5 ha, including 39,000 holdings with none²⁵²⁴. Holdings under 5 ha used 22.9% of the utilised agricultural area. The 15,650 holdings of 100 ha or more, 0.5% of the total, used 46.6%, and the 6,450 holdings of 250 ha or more used 35.2% (own calculations)²⁴.

Economic size and self-consumption. Standard output is "the average monetary value of the agricultural output at farm-gate price, in euro per hectare or per head of livestock"³². In 2023, 64.9% of holdings had a standard output of less than €2,000 and together accounted for 10.3% of the total, whereas the 14,870 holdings with €100,000 or more (0.5%) accounted for 38.9% (own calculations)²⁹. In the 2013 farm structure survey 87.6% of holdings consumed more than half of their own production, against 93.0% in 2010, and Eurostat has not published this variable for later surveys³³.

Legal form, tenure and managers. Holdings of legal persons numbered 25,140 in 2023, 0.9% of all holdings, but used 38.2% of the utilised agricultural area, 190 ha each on average, and accounted for 33.0% of the standard output. Holdings of natural persons averaged 2.74 ha (own calculations)²⁴. Owners farmed 47.2% of the utilised agricultural area and tenants 38.1%, against 60.4% and 27.4% in 2010³⁴. People aged 65 or over managed 41.7% of holdings in 2023, against 37.9% in 2010, and people under 40 managed 7.8%. Women managed 36.3% of holdings²⁶.

Land use. Annual crop statistics put the utilised agricultural area at 12.69 million ha in 2024, of which 8.38 million ha were arable land, 3.91 million ha permanent grassland and 308,500 ha permanent crops³⁵. The area fell by 10.4% from 14.16 million ha in 2010 (own calculation). These statistics differ from the farm structure statistics, which count 12.55 million ha in 2023²⁴. Agricultural land covered 55.2% of Romania's land area in 2024 on World Bank data³⁶.

Land prices and rents. One hectare of arable land cost RON 43,280 on average in 2024 (EUR 8,700), against RON 22,871 in 2018, when Eurostat's series breaks, and one hectare of permanent grassland cost RON 31,124³⁷. The annual rent for one hectare of arable land was RON 706 in 2024, against RON 434 in 2018³⁸.