Romania is one of the best countries for global business expansion, study shows

According to recent data from global HR and payroll company Remote, Romania is the 7th best country for global enterprise expansion.

Nearly half of company CFOs are currently in the process of expanding their business to overseas markets or planning to do so soon. Global expansion can provide companies with many additional benefits such as increased brand exposure, new investment opportunities, and fresh talent acquisition from around the world.

With this in mind, Remote has created the global business expansion index, analyzing 100 countries with the largest GDPs in the world based on metrics such as their annual GDP growth rate, labor productivity, and the costs involved with launching a business to determine the top countries for expanding business globally.

The United States ranked at the top of the global expansion index, revealing it as the best country for businesses looking to expand overseas. The US has by far the highest number of start-ups (73,553) out of all countries analyzed. The second highest number was 14,667 in India – nearly 60,000 less.

The US also has one of the shortest times required to start a business at just 4 days, along with a fairly reasonable average cost of USD 725 (though this is the highest cost of all the top five countries on the list).

The second location on the list is Singapore, a small country in Southeast Asia with a very big business output. Ireland takes third place, with the greatest annual growth rate of countries in the top 20.

Romania has 263 start-ups recorded in the study, a low number when measured up to other countries in the top 10. It also has a fairly average 16% tax on corporate profits, but a relatively high number of tax payments (14) each year. By comparison, in Hong Kong businesses need to make only 3 payments each year.

Internet access in Romania stands at 232.17 Mbps, higher than that in the US, and almost double that in Ireland. Only Singapore and Hong Kong, both at around 255 Mbps, have a faster connection.

It takes roughly 20 days to start a business in Romania, the longest period in all of the top 10 countries. In Hong Kong and Singapore it takes 2 days, in Hungary 7, in Denmark 4, and in Sweden only 8 days. However, it costs only USD 38 to do so, making Romania by far the cheapest place to open a business.

The study also records extremes. Launching a business in Venezuela takes an average of 230 days, the longest amount of all the countries researched. When it comes to costs, the United Arab Emirates received the lowest score thanks to its very expensive USD 7,444 price to start a business. Italy, Qatar, Lebanon, and Austria also recorded very high business start-up costs, all costing between USD 2,000 and USD 5,000.