The number of business bankruptcy declarations in the European Union in the year to date is higher than since the pre-pandemic period, new data from Eurostat has revealed.
However, in the third quarter of 2023, the number of bankruptcy declarations decreased by 5.8% compared to the previous quarter, the data showed.
Decrease in bankruptcies
Most sectors of the economy saw a decrease in the number of bankruptcies in the third quarter, with the transportation and storage sector seeing the highest decrease, of 41.3%.
Other sectors to see marked declines in bankruptcies included accommodation and food services (-28.4%) and education, health and social activities (-12.3%).
Bankruptcies were considerable higher in the information and communication sector, however, rising 25.3%, while industry (+4.6%) and construction (+0.1%) also saw gains.
In comparison to the pre-pandemic fourth quarter of 2019, half of the economic sectors witnessed an increase in the number of bankruptcy declarations during the third quarter of 2023.
Sectors such as accommodation and food services, information and communication, education, health and social activities, as well as financial, insurance, and real estate activities all experienced a higher incidence of bankruptcies, compared with Q4 2019, the data showed.
New business registrations
During the same timeframe, new business registrations experienced a slight increase for the third consecutive quarter.
Compared to the second quarter of the current year, there was a 0.7% rise. Overall, the number of business registrations in the second and third quarters of 2023 surpassed those recorded in the period from 2015 to 2022.
