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In the third quarter of 2024, the number of bankruptcy declarations of EU businesses increased by 2.7% compared with the second quarter of 2024. 

At the same time, business registrations also went up by 2.2% compared with the second quarter of 2024. 

This information comes from data on business registrations and bankruptcies published by Eurostat today. This article presents a handful of findings from the more detailed Statistics Explained article. 

Registrations of businesses and declarations of bankruptcies in the EU, Q1 2018 to Q3 2024, seasonally adjusted data; 2021=100. Chart. See link to full dataset below.

Source dataset: sts_rb_q

Business registrations rise in most sectors

Data show that the number of business registrations went up in most sectors of the economy. When compared with the previous quarter, in the third quarter of 2024, the highest increases in the number of registrations were in transport (+3.9%), construction (+3.7%) and the financial sector (+2.7). Decreases were recorded only in the information and communication sector (-0.8%), industry (-0.5%) and accommodation and food services (-0.2%).

Spike in bankruptcies in transport

The number of bankruptcy declarations increased in most sectors. When compared with the previous quarter, in the third quarter of 2024, the largest increases in the number of bankruptcies were recorded in transport (28.8%), information and communication (15.3%), and accommodation and food services (9.8%). On the other hand, bankruptcy declarations decreased only in education and social activities (-16.3%) and the financial sector (-6.8%).