As of March 2025, the focus of the news report on bankruptcies is on the development compared to a year earlier and on the bankruptcy rate. This is the number of declared bankruptcies per 100,000 companies. The bankruptcy rate provides a clearer picture of the development of the number of bankruptcies in the Netherlands. This also allows better comparison between sectors. The number of companies can fluctuate over time and differ significantly between sectors.

Bankruptcy rate also lower

The bankruptcy rate, the number of bankruptcies per 100,000 companies, was 7.4 in March. A year earlier, 9.5 per 100,000 companies were declared bankrupt. Since the start of the series in 2015, the bankruptcy rate peaked in March 2015 at 24.8. After that, a decline set in, and in August 2021, a record low of 3.4 was reached. Since then, the bankruptcy rate has stabilized at a relatively low level.

Most bankruptcies in the hospitality sector

Not adjusted for court session days, most bankruptcies were declared in the hospitality sector in March. Nearly 40 out of 100,000 hospitality companies went bankrupt. A year earlier, this number was over 28. The hospitality sector also recorded the largest increase in the bankruptcy rate. In most other sectors, the bankruptcy rate was lower than a year earlier.