# Romania Keeps Building. But For Whom?

Romania's National Institute of Statistics counts, every year, how many dwellings exist in every locality. Since 1992, the national housing stock has grown 29.5%, while the domiciled population fell 8.3%. In 65.2% of the 2,946 localities with complete data, the housing stock grew exactly where the registered population left — the "paradox" quadrant.

The record: Băișoara (Cluj county), +124.1% housing, −30.1% domiciled population since 1992. For contrast, the largest absolute housing growth is in Florești (Cluj county), +1,473%, but there the population grew too: that is the "expansion" quadrant, not "paradox."

Four quadrants: paradox (1,920 localities, more housing, fewer people), expansion (614, both grew), contraction (402, both shrank), pressure (10, only population grew).

Plausible explanations, with no direct proof: second homes and weekend tourism, remittances from abroad, inheritance split between siblings, legal domicile that does not follow an actual move.

Source: Romania's statistics office, TEMPO-Online, matrices LOC101B (existing dwellings) and POP107D (population by domicile), by county and locality, 1992–2025. Full methodology and limits at [mariuscomper.uk/constru-pentru-cine/en/](https://mariuscomper.uk/constru-pentru-cine/en/#metoda).

Interactive locality explorer, map and rankings: [mariuscomper.uk/constru-pentru-cine/en/](https://mariuscomper.uk/constru-pentru-cine/en/) · [Ediția în română](https://mariuscomper.uk/constru-pentru-cine/)