Bankruptcies fall by 20% in 2014

The Netherlands saw a total of 6,645 businesses go bankrupt in 2014. This constituted a 21-percent drop from 2013 which saw a record 8,376 bankruptcies across the country, according to new data released by Statistics Netherlands (CBS) on Friday. The number of one-man business bankruptcies also faced a reduction, sinking from 1,055 to 975; a decrease in eight percent. The average number of bankruptcies over the past three months was the lowest when compared to quarterly averages over the entire last three years, the government's official statistics bureau said. While the number of bankruptcies dropped significantly in 2014, the number of bankruptcies in businesses is still 73 percent higher than in 2008, the last year before the financial crisis began to take its toll. Private persons declaring bankruptcy also fell in 2014. Last year 2,035 people were declared bankrupt, a third less than in 2013 The total number of businesses, one-man businesses, and private persons bankruptcies in 2014 was 9,655. Most occurred in the trade sector, followed by the financial sector. The highest concentration of bankruptcies were in the provinces of South Holland and North Brabant and the lowest was in Zeeland.