According to preliminary data from the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), the number of applications for corporate insolvency in Germany decreased by 0.7 percent in May 2025, compared to the same period last year. This marks the first decline in this early indicator since March 2023, when a 3.4 percent drop was recorded compared to March 2022.
It is essential to note that the statistics only reflect the cases that have reached the first decision of the insolvency court and the actual time of the insolvency application often lies approximately three months prior.
For the first quarter of 2025, the courts reported a total of 5,891 corporate insolvency applications, a 13.1 percent increase from the same period in 2024.
The claims of creditors from the 5,891 corporate insolvencies reported in the first quarter of 2025, as determined by the courts, amount to approximately 19.9 billion euros. In the first quarter of 2024, the claims stood at around 11.3 billion euros.
In terms of the number of insolvencies per 10,000 companies, the sector with the highest rate of insolvency was the transportation and warehousing industry, with 29.4 cases, followed by the other economic services (such as temporary work agencies) with 26.1 cases and the construction industry with 25.4 insolvencies per 10,000 companies.
In the first quarter of 2025, a total of 18,573 consumer insolvencies were reported, a 6.3 percent increase from the same period in 2024, according to the Federal Statistical Office.