Last year was the darkest bankruptcy year since the recession of the 90s

In December 360 bankruptcies were filed, which is 34 percent more than at the same time a year earlier. A total of 3,906 companies filed for bankruptcy last year.

The data can be found in Statistics Finland’s Bankruptcies and Corporate Reorganizations statistics published on Friday morning.

“Last year’s number of bankruptcies was the highest since 1996. Compared to the previous year, the number of bankruptcy applications increased by 12 percent”, Chief Actuary of the Finnish Statistical Office Mira Kuussaari says in the announcement.

The number of employees in companies filed for bankruptcy last year was approximately 14,300. In December, there were approximately 1,200 employees in bankrupt companies, approximately 18 percent more than the previous year.

“This number has been higher three times earlier in the 2000s: in 2009, i.e. at the time of the global financial crisis, in 2013 and in 2023, when the ongoing wave of bankruptcies can be considered to have started.”

Last year the most filed for bankruptcy were companies in the construction industry. A total of 768 of them filed for bankruptcy.

Kuussaari says in the press release that the number of bankruptcies in the construction sector has already decreased from its peak, which was seen in 2023. In practice, however, the trend has been upward in all other sectors.

In December, the largest number of companies were filed for bankruptcy in the other services sector. From there, 129 companies filed for bankruptcy.

During the previous three years, an average of 3,600 companies have filed for bankruptcy per year, Statistics Finland says. In the 2010s, the annual average value of bankruptcies was around 2,700. In recent years, on average, smaller companies have filed for bankruptcy than in the 2010s.

of Finnish Entrepreneurs head of legislative affairs Tiina Toivonen interprets the bankruptcy figures in the press release as “still increasing for as long as possible, until the plug on the economy can be broken open”.

According to him, sole proprietors and companies in the trade, construction and other professional services industries have the most financial difficulties.