Dutch Business Bankruptcies Surge 27% in October, Official Data Shows

Business bankruptcies in the Netherlands rose 27% in October from a year earlier, with 322 businesses and sole proprietorships declared bankrupt, according to figures released Thursday by Statistics Netherlands (CBS). The total was 69 higher than in October 2025, when 253 bankruptcies were recorded.

The annual increase was sharp, but the change from September was almost nonexistent. October brought just one more bankruptcy than the revised September total of 321. It was also six below October 2024, when 328 businesses and sole proprietorships were declared bankrupt. Those comparisons put the latest increase in perspective: the country has returned close to an earlier level after a relatively quiet October last year.

CBS counts businesses that have been declared bankrupt through the legal process, rather than every company that closes. Its headline monthly totals are adjusted for differences in the number of court session days, which can otherwise affect comparisons between months. The statistics describe the incidence of bankruptcy; they do not establish why individual businesses failed.

October Rebounds From a Low Base Without a Monthly Spike

The agency’s November 12 report shows 287 bankruptcies among businesses and institutions in October, alongside 35 involving sole proprietorships. In September, the corresponding figures were 275 and 46. The two categories therefore moved in different directions, leaving the combined October count almost unchanged.

Among the 253 bankruptcies recorded in October 2025, 220 involved businesses and institutions and 33 involved sole proprietorships. Most of the increase from that month came from the first group, rather than a jump of similar size in both categories.

October 2025 had been an unusually favorable comparison point. At the time, CBS reported that the monthly total had dropped 23% from October 2024. The latest 27% increase reverses much of that fall, but it does not take the headline count above its level two years earlier. A single annual percentage can therefore look more dramatic than the longer comparison suggests.

A small revision to September makes the latest data vintage important. CBS initially reported 320 bankruptcies for that month, but its October tables now show 321. The current month-to-month comparison is accordingly 322 versus 321, rather than the figure given in September’s initial release.

There has still been a recovery in bankruptcies since the summer. CBS’s current series lists 265 in July, 304 in August, 321 in September and 322 in October, all adjusted for court session days. That movement shows why the nearly flat September-to-October change should not be read as an absence of pressure throughout the preceding months.

Manufacturing Worsens as Hospitality Has Highest Failure Rate

Bankruptcy risk was uneven across industries. Accommodation and food services had the highest October rate, at 25.1 bankruptcies per 100,000 businesses, up from 23.3 a year earlier. The rate is measured relative to the number of businesses in that sector; it does not represent the proportion of all Dutch bankruptcies occurring in restaurants and hotels.

Manufacturing recorded the most pronounced increase in its sector bankruptcy rate, according to CBS. The reading rose to 24.8 per 100,000 businesses from 19.5 in October 2025, a gain of 5.3 per 100,000. That put manufacturing close to accommodation and food services in the latest ranking, despite the different kinds and numbers of businesses in each industry.

Other sectors also posted higher rates. Transportation and storage increased to 21.2 from 19.2 per 100,000 businesses. Trade rose to 14.2 from 11.5, and renting and other business services increased to 15.1 from 13.8. Information and communication climbed to 8.7 from 5.6, although that remained well below the levels reported in hospitality and manufacturing.

Not every industry moved in the same direction. Construction’s bankruptcy rate declined to 12.5 from 14.0, while real estate activities eased to 4.7 from 5.1. The differences matter because an increase in the national total should not be interpreted as evidence that bankruptcy conditions deteriorated uniformly across the Dutch economy.

Sector figures follow a different statistical basis from the headline rate. The national reading is adjusted for court session days, but the industry figures are not. In the unadjusted sector table, the rate for all businesses is 8.1 per 100,000, rather than the adjusted headline figure of 8.5. Comparisons between industries should use the sector figures on that consistent basis.

National Bankruptcy Rate Returns to 8.5 per 100,000

On a court-day-adjusted basis, the national bankruptcy rate reached 8.5 per 100,000 businesses in October, compared with 6.8 in the same month last year. It matched September’s reading of 8.5. The annual increase therefore appears in both the number of businesses declared bankrupt and the measure that accounts for the size of the business population.

That second measure is useful because the number of businesses can change over time. A rising count of bankruptcies does not necessarily mean that the proportion of companies failing is rising at the same pace. The rate also helps compare industries with very different numbers of active enterprises, although it cannot measure how many jobs were lost or the financial losses associated with each bankruptcy.

Longer-term figures temper the picture. October’s rate of 8.5 was below the 9.0 recorded in October 2024. The series reached a peak of 24.8 in March 2015 and a low of 3.4 in August 2021. CBS says the rate climbed from that low into 2024, then stabilized and eased somewhat in 2025. The current reading is higher than last autumn’s but far from the high recorded earlier in the series.

July’s national rate was 7.1 per 100,000 businesses, rising to 8.1 in August before reaching 8.5 in both September and October. In the space of three months, the rate increased even though the number of bankruptcies barely changed between the two most recent months.