Romania is among the top ten countries supporting the growth of the startup industry in Europe, according to a survey of card processing company Paymentsense.

The survey ranks 30 countries based on how many new businesses were registered between 2013 and 2017 and the most popular industry in each country.

By the number of startups registered, Romania ranks 10th, with 499,419 businesses registered in the five-year period.

Turkey tops the chart with 2.1 million businesses registered between 2013 and 2017. Neighboring Bulgaria ranks 16^th, with 228,421 businesses registered in the analyzed period, while Hungary is 12^th, with 337,002 businesses.

At the same time, Romania has seen a growth of 3.87% when it comes to startups between 2013 and 2017, with 158,590 of those related to wholesale and retail, the strongest startup area of the country. The growth is the second highest after UK’s 5.09%. Portugal came third at 3.37%, according to openaccessgovernment.org.

Overall, wholesale and retail businesses dominate in Europe, with 3.7 million new businesses started in the past years. Professional, scientific and technical activities took the second spot, with 2.5 million businesses started in this area. Construction was as a third top area, with 1.9 million registered businesses.

For Romania, 2013 was the top year for new startups across all industries, the survey showed.

The results of the survey can be checked here.

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editor@romania-insider.com