A total of 3,636 companies and other institutions went bankrupt last year, a drop of 15% on 2024, national statistics agency CBS said on Monday.

The decline took the average bankruptcy rate for 2025 as a whole to 8.2 per 100,000 businesses, compared with 9.8 the previous year.

The peak rate – 9,431 – was reached during the euro crisis in 2013, and fell to a low of 1,818 in 2021, at the end of the coronavirus crisis, when widespread government support was still available.

The retail and trade sector accounted for most bankruptcies (706), followed by the construction sector and the specialised business services sector, with 488 and 378 bankruptcies respectively.