In April, after correcting for court hearing days, 20 more companies were declared bankrupt than in March, Statistics Netherlands reports. That is, an increase of 6 percent. In the first four months of 2024, 47% more companies declared bankruptcy than in the same period of the previous year.
The number of bankruptcies is increasing
The number of bankruptcies adjusted for court days fluctuates widely. Declines and increases follow each other in quick succession. The number of declared bankruptcies peaked with 911 in May 2013. After that, the number of bankruptcies declined until August 2017. The trend then remained relatively flat until mid-2020. After that, the number of bankruptcies declined further and reached a record high of 109 in August 2021. As of May 2022, the number of bankruptcies was consistently higher than in the same month of the previous year.
Most bankruptcies are in trade
The days of court hearings were not corrected, as 402 companies and institutions (including sole proprietorships) were declared bankrupt in April. Of all industries, commerce had the highest number of bankruptcies, 72. This is 24 percent more than in March.
Trade is one of the industries with the most companies. Relatively speaking, most bankruptcies in the transportation and warehousing sector were announced in April.
Source: CBS
