Fewer bankruptcies in January, but trend still rising

Corrected for hearing days, 24 fewer companies were declared bankrupt in the Netherlands last month than in December 2023. That is a decrease of 6 percent, Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reported on Monday. It added that the rising trend that’s been happening in bankruptcies for nearly two years is continuing. Compared to January 2023, over 60 percent more companies went bankrupt in January 2024.

Bankruptcies peaked in the aftermath of the credit crisis in May 2013 at 911. The number then fell until mid-August 2017, then remained stable until mid-2020, and then plummeted to a record low of 109 in August 2021 amidst government support measures in the coronavirus pandemic. The number of bankruptcies has been continuously higher than in the same month a year earlier from May 2022.

Not corrected for court hearing days, 410 companies and institutions, including sole proprietorships, went bankrupt in January. Of all industries, trade had the largest number of bankruptcies at 79, 10 percent less than in December. Trade is also one of the industries with the most companies.

Relatively speaking, the catering sector suffered the most bankruptcies in January.