In December 18 percent fewer bankruptcies
In December 2025, 265 companies were declared bankrupt in the Netherlands. That’s 60 fewer than in the same month a year earlier, down 18 percent. There was also a clear decrease compared to November. This continues the downward trend in the number of bankruptcies, according to recent figures from Statistics Netherlands.
Bankruptcies in 2025 lower than a year earlier
The December figures also announce the provisional total for 2025. 3,636 companies were declared bankrupt all year round. That is 15 percent less than in 2024, when 4,270 companies still went bankrupt. This means that the number of bankruptcies is clearly lower than in recent years.
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Bankruptcy rate again lower than a year earlier
The bankruptcy rate came to 7.1 in December. A year earlier, 8.9 companies were declared bankrupt per 100 thousand companies. For the whole of 2025, the bankruptcy rate averaged 8.2. In 2024 that was 9.8.
Since the series started in 2015, the bankruptcy rate peaked in March 2015 at 24.8. Then a decline started and in August 2021 a record was reached with 3.4. Subsequently, the number of bankruptcies per 100 thousand companies increased again until 2024. The bankruptcy rate then stabilized until autumn 2024. Since then, the trend has declined slightly.
In December 2025, the most bankruptcies were pronounced in catering establishments, which were not corrected for session days. The bankruptcy rate in December was therefore highest in the catering industry. Per 100 thousand companies in the catering industry, 29.5 went bankrupt, a year earlier there were 27.5.
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Strongest decline in specialist services and construction
As in previous years, trade had the highest absolute number of bankruptcies in 2025. This was followed by the construction industry and specialist services. At the same time, the decline was greatest in these last two sectors compared to 2024. Especially with consultancies, advertising and market research companies, as well as with general and specialized construction companies, significantly fewer companies went bankrupt than a year earlier.
Far fewer retailers bankrupt in 2025
A total of 286 retailers went bankrupt in 2025. In December, a total of 24 retail companies were bottled, according to figures from Statistics Netherlands. The total number of 286 bankruptcies for 2025 is considerably less than the 364 bankruptcies a year earlier. The last time fewer retailers went bankrupt was in 2022. Then 193 companies went bankrupt. It should be noted that many companies still received corona support at the time. The low number of retail failures is mainly due to the second half of the year. 128 companies fell from July to December. In the same period in 2024, there were 200.
Source: CBS
Photo: Shutterstock
