The number of companies going bankrupt in the Netherlands fell in May compared to the same time last year. A total of 287 businesses went under last month, which is 66 fewer failures than in May last year—a drop of 19 per cent. Compared to April, the number of bankruptcies also went down slightly by 1 per cent.
To get a clearer picture of the trend, experts look at the bankruptcy rate, which measures how many businesses close down out of every 100,000 companies. In May, this rate dropped to 7.7, down from 9.6 a year earlier. Looking at the numbers this way helps economists make better comparisons between different industries, as the total number of open businesses constantly changes and varies by sector.
The transport and storage sector hit the hardest, with 22.6 out of every 100,000 companies closing down, though this was still lower than the 25.3 recorded last year. The manufacturing industry followed closely behind with a rate of 19.3, while the culture, sports, and recreation sector saw the fewest business failures relative to its size.
Looking at long-term trends since 2015, the bankruptcy rate reached its highest point in March 2015 at 24.8. It then steadily declined to an all-time low of 3.4 in August 2021 during the pandemic. After that, business failures rose again until 2024, but the rate has stabilised and has been slowly moving downward since the autumn of 2024.
@anp | NEWS BRAINPORT
