Highest number of German bankruptcies expected in 2025 since 2009 financial crisis

Germany is bracing for a sharp rise in bankruptcies this year, with an anticipated 25–30 percent increase compared to 2024, reaching levels not seen since the 2009 financial crisis

The grim forecast, reported by Handelsblatt based on an analysis by restructuring consultancy firm Falkensteg, highlights deepening struggles in key industries and the broader economy

In 2024, 364 major companies with annual revenues exceeding €10 million filed for bankruptcy — a 30 percent increase over the previous year. This marks a stark contrast to 2020, the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic when 292 such companies went bankrupt

The hardest-hit sectors include automotive suppliers, mechanical engineering, construction, and healthcare

“We are at the level where individual months are definitely 20-year highs,” 
said the head of insolvency research at Leibniz -Institute for Economic Research Halle (IWH), Steffen Müller, as cited by the German broadsheet

“At the time of the financial crisis in 2009, we had around 1,400 insolvent partnerships and corporations per month. Now we have reached that level again,”
 he added