In total, 6,645 companies went bust in the Netherlands last year, down 20% on 2013’s record, the national statistics office CBS said on Friday.

Nevertheless, the number of bankruptcies is still considerably higher than before the economic crisis. Last year, 73% more firms went bust than in 2008.

In addition, there was an 8% drop in the number of one-man operated companies going broke while personal bankruptcies were down 30% at 9,655.

The drop was sharpest for building companies and financial service firms.