section_path: Economy
section_name: Economy
paragraph_text: Economy
  
  Bucharest is the centre of the Romanian economy and industry, accounting for around 24% (2017) of the country's GDP and about one-quarter of its industrial production, while being inhabited by 9% of the country's population. Almost one-third of national taxes is paid by Bucharest's citizens and companies. The living standard in the Bucharest – Ilfov region was 145% of the EU average in 2017, according to GDP per capita at the purchasing power parity standard (adjusted to the national price level).
  
  The Bucharest area surpassed, on comparable terms, European metropolitan areas such as Budapest (139%), Madrid (125%), Berlin (118%), Rome (110%), Lisbon (102%), and Sofia (79%), and more than twice the Romanian average. After relative stagnation in the 1990s, the city's strong economic growth has revitalised infrastructure and led to the development of shopping malls, residential estates, and high-rise office buildings. In January 2013, Bucharest had an unemployment rate of 2.1%, significantly lower than the national unemployment rate of 5.8%.
  
  Bucharest's economy is centred on industry and services, with services particularly growing in importance in the past 10 years. The headquarters of 186,000 firms, including nearly all large Romanian companies, are located in Bucharest. An important source of growth since 2000 has been the city's rapidly expanding property and construction sector. Bucharest is also Romania's largest centre for information technology and communications and is home to several software companies operating offshore delivery centres. Romania's largest stock exchange, the Bucharest Stock Exchange, which was merged in December 2005 with the Bucharest-based electronic stock exchange Rasdaq, plays a major role in the city's economy.
  
  Malls and large shopping centres have been built since the late 1990s, such as Băneasa Shopping City, AFI Palace Cotroceni, Mega Mall, București Mall, ParkLake Shopping Centre, Sun Plaza, Promenada Mall and longest Unirea Shopping Centre. Bucharest has over 20 malls as of 2019.
  
  The corporations Amazon, Microsoft, Ubisoft, Oracle Corporation, or IBM are all present in the Romanian capital. The top ten is also dominated by companies operating in automotive, oil & gas (such as Petrom), as well as companies in telecommunication and FMCG. The Speedtest Global Index ranks Bucharest the 6th city in the world (after Beijing, Shanghai, Abu Dhabi, Valparaíso, and Lyon) in terms of fixed broadband speed, at 250 Mbps as of 2023.