Eurostat published first estimates on Tuesday 20 October 2026 for construction production in August. Compared with July, the seasonally adjusted series rose by 1.8% in the euro area and by 2.0% in the European Union. In July the same indicator had grown by 0.2% in the euro area and fallen by 0.1% in the EU, after a revision from the 18 September release.

Among member states with monthly data, the largest increases versus July were in Hungary (+14.0%), Germany (+9.3%) and Romania (+7.2%). Romania is not first on the month-to-month change. The largest monthly falls were in Slovenia (−5.1%), Slovakia (−4.9%) and Italy (−2.9%).

The annual comparison is a different ranking. Versus August 2025, production rose by 1.4% in the euro area and by 2.6% in the EU. The largest annual gains, again only for countries with data, were in Romania (+39.0%), Hungary (+22.0%) and Finland (+12.7%). France (−7.8%), Slovakia (−4.9%) and Spain (−4.3%) posted the steepest annual falls.

Headlines that say Romania “outruns every EU state” refer to that annual comparison, not to the 7.2% rise from one month to the next. The two percentages are not additive and they do not describe the same thing.

By segment, in the euro area building construction fell 0.4% month on month, civil engineering fell 2.1% and specialised construction activities rose 2.5%. In the EU, buildings fell 1.0%, civil engineering 0.2% and specialised activities rose 2.3%. Those breakdowns are European aggregates, not a Romania-only split in this release.

Romania’s National Institute of Statistics reports, for August 2026 versus August 2025, a 40.5% gross rise in the volume of construction works. That INS figure is not the same as Eurostat’s 39.0%: the methods differ. On the seasonally adjusted series, INS put August’s monthly volume 7.2% above July, in line with Romania’s monthly figure in the European release.

The construction production index tracks volume, not value in lei. Tuesday’s figures are first estimates and can be revised, as July was.

Image: construction crane in Bucharest, 28 May 2016, Tiia Monto, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. A crane, not an Eurostat chart.

Sources consulted: Production in construction up by 1.8% in the euro area and by 2.0% in the EU — Eurostat; România, campioană la construcţii, în UE. Cea mai mare creştere pentru lucrările de construcţii, în Uniunea Europeană — Economica.net; România depășește toate statele UE la creșterea producției în construcții. Ce arată ultimele date — Capital.