Q1 2024: bankruptcies in EU down, registrations up

The number of bankruptcy declarations of EU businesses decreased in the first quarter of 2024 by 0.8 per cent compared with the fourth quarter of 2023, EU statistics agency Eurostat reported Thursday. The information, which comes from a handful of findings from Eurostat, shows that at the same time, business registrations were up by 1.6% in the first quarter of 2024 compared with the previous quarter. The number of business registrations went up across all sectors of the economy.

When compared with the previous quarter, the highest increases in the first quarter of 2024 were in education, health and social activities (+5.2%), transportation and construction (+4.1%) and accommodation and food services (+3.7%). While the overall number of bankruptcy declarations slightly decreased, there were different trends across the sectors of the economy, reports Eurostat.

Looking specifically at bankruptcies by activity, when compared with the previous quarter, in the first quarter of 2024 bankruptcies decreased in 2 sectors: trade (-3.3%) and construction (-1.2%). The highest increases were observed in the transportation and storage sector (+15.2%), and industry (+9.1%).

Source: EUbusiness