Business bankruptcies up 27% on a year earlier in October

The number of companies declared bankrupt in the Netherlands rose by 27% in October compared with a year earlier, according to figures from national statistics office CBS.

A total of 322 businesses went bankrupt last month, 69 more than in October 2025 and one more than in September, the CBS said on Thursday.

It is the third month in a row in which bankruptcies have been higher than in the same month a year earlier. Before that, they had fallen year on year in six of the first seven months of 2026.

The bankruptcy rate rose to 8.5 per 100,000 businesses, from 6.8 in October last year. That is still below the levels of 2024, when the rate peaked at 11.3 in July. The CBS said the rate has fluctuated between seven and eight since the middle of 2025.

Hospitality had the highest bankruptcy rate in October, at 25.1 per 100,000 businesses, up from 23.3 a year earlier. Industry saw the biggest increase, from 19.5 to 24.8. Construction was one of the few sectors where the rate fell, from 14 to 12.5.

The number of company failures fell by 15% across 2025 as a whole.