Bankruptcies at a 13-year high: A German company goes bankrupt every 19 minutes

The federal government is expecting significantly more economic growth this year. So far there has been no sign of this among companies. Smaller companies in particular are increasingly slipping into insolvency. At the same time, creditors' claims are falling.

The number of company bankruptcies in Germany also rose noticeably in July and reached the highest value for this month in 13 years. The district courts registered 2,373 filed corporate insolvencies, 8 percent more than in the same month last year, according to the Federal Statistical Office. This continues the development from the first half of the year. The last time there was a higher monthly value was in July 2013 with 2,459 cases.

“A company goes bankrupt in Germany every 19 minutes,” said medium-sized business expert Marc Evers from the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DIHK). The record shows that the interim economic recovery is far from covering the breadth of the economy. “The small upswing threatens to be short-lived because it is based predominantly on high debt-financed government spending,” said Evers. Politicians must quickly implement the necessary reforms.

The statisticians point out that the applications are only recorded after the first court decision and that the actual date of the application is often around three months ago.

A total of 15,185 corporate insolvencies were registered, 6.9 percent more than in the same period last year. However, in the current bankruptcies, creditors' claims, at 21.9 billion euros, are lower than a year ago, when 31.8 billion euros were in the fire. According to statisticians, this is due to the fact that more economically important companies filed for bankruptcy in 2025.

Certain sectors of the economy were particularly affected by this development. The highest frequency of insolvencies from January to July was in the transport and warehousing sector with 85.5 cases per 10,000 companies. This was followed by the hospitality industry with 70.0 and the construction industry with 62.9 insolvencies. The average insolvency frequency across all sectors was 42.8.

The opposite development was seen in consumer bankruptcies. The number fell by 5.9 percent to 7,111 in July. From January to July, however, it rose slightly by 1.0 percent to 46,043 within a year.