diff --git a/ontrack.py b/ontrack.py
index a1f9155..7135790 100644
--- a/ontrack.py
+++ b/ontrack.py
@@ -188,8 +188,37 @@ def _is_on_track(
     return True
 
 
+def _has_visible_files(directory: str, patterns: list[str]) -> bool:
+    """Return True iff *directory* directly contains at least one visible file.
+
+    A "visible file" is a regular file whose name is not ``ontrack.yml`` and
+    does not match any pattern in *patterns*.  Entries that cannot be stat'd
+    are silently skipped.
+
+    Args:
+        directory: Path to the directory to inspect.
+        patterns: Shell-style glob patterns (see :func:`_is_ignored`).  Files
+            whose names match any pattern are not considered visible.
+    """
+    try:
+        for entry in os.scandir(directory):
+            try:
+                if (
+                    entry.is_file(follow_symlinks=False)
+                    and entry.name != _ONTRACK_YML
+                    and not _is_ignored(entry.name, patterns)
+                ):
+                    return True
+            except OSError:
+                pass
+    except OSError:
+        pass
+    return False
+
+
 def _find_reporting_directories(
-    directory: str, ignore_patterns: list[str] | None = None
+    directory: str,
+    ignore_patterns: list[str] | None = None,
 ) -> list[str]:
     """Return reporting directories within *directory*.
 
@@ -198,9 +227,11 @@ def _find_reporting_directories(
     If *directory* contains only ignored files and subdirectories, or contains
     no files at all, the search recurses into each non-ignored subdirectory.  An
     empty directory (no files, no subdirectories) is itself treated as a
-    reporting directory.  Entries that cannot be stat'd are silently skipped.
-    Subdirectories whose names match *ignore_patterns* are not descended into
-    and are not considered reporting directories.
+    reporting directory, unless the result set also contains directories that do
+    have visible files — in that case the empty directories are dropped so that
+    they are not reported alongside real content.  Entries that cannot be stat'd
+    are silently skipped.  Subdirectories whose names match *ignore_patterns*
+    are not descended into and are not considered reporting directories.
 
     **ontrack.yml special handling:**
     When an ``ontrack.yml`` file is found in *directory*, descent stops
@@ -252,6 +283,14 @@ def _find_reporting_directories(
     result: list[str] = []
     for subdir in subdirs:
         result.extend(_find_reporting_directories(subdir, patterns))
+
+    # If some of the collected reporting directories have visible files and
+    # others are empty leaves, discard the empty ones.  An empty directory
+    # should not be reported alongside real content at the same level.
+    non_empty = [p for p in result if _has_visible_files(p, patterns)]
+    if non_empty:
+        result = non_empty
+
     # Fall back to the current directory if all recursive calls returned nothing
     # (e.g. every subdirectory raised OSError and could not be scanned).
     return result if result else [directory]
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index f2721d8..9cf7b4b 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"
 
 [project]
 name = "ontrack"
-version = "0.2.0"
+version = "0.2.1"
 description = "Scan directory trees and report file statistics from YAML configuration."
 readme = "README.md"
 requires-python = ">=3.10"
diff --git a/tests/test_ontrack.py b/tests/test_ontrack.py
index e47fb30..f89d6a2 100644
--- a/tests/test_ontrack.py
+++ b/tests/test_ontrack.py
@@ -766,6 +766,34 @@ def test_find_reporting_directories_files_and_subdir(tmp_path):
     assert str(dir012) not in result
 
 
+def test_find_reporting_directories_empty_sibling_not_reported(tmp_path):
+    """An empty subdirectory is not reported when a sibling directory contains files.
+
+    Structure:
+        parent/
+          empty_subdir/    <- empty (no files, no subdirs)
+          project_dir/
+            data.txt       <- has content
+
+    Expected: project_dir is reported; empty_subdir is NOT reported because it
+    has a sibling directory with actual content.  The parent directory itself
+    should not appear either.
+    """
+    parent = tmp_path / "parent"
+    parent.mkdir()
+    empty_subdir = parent / "empty_subdir"
+    empty_subdir.mkdir()
+    project_dir = parent / "project_dir"
+    project_dir.mkdir()
+    (project_dir / "data.txt").write_text("content")
+
+    result = _find_reporting_directories(str(parent))
+
+    assert str(project_dir) in result
+    assert str(empty_subdir) not in result
+    assert str(parent) not in result
+
+
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # main – group from config file
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------