In 2024, the number of bankruptcy cases involving individuals and independent contractors rose by 120%

The Registry of Forensic Economists (Refor) of the General Council of Economists showed that bankruptcy proceedings for people and self-employed workers increased by 120% to 35,510 in 2024, while those for businesses increased by 23% to 5,589 in the same year.

The Economists point out in a note that of the 41,099 bankruptcies that occurred in 2024, 86% of them were of individuals or self-employed people, significantly more than those of businesses, which accounted for 14%.

According to the College of Economists’ analysis of last year’s data, 84% of bankruptcy proceedings involve no assets, indicating that the excessive debt is already unsustainable because there are no assets to face the bankruptcy and liquidation is required. This suggests that bankruptcy proceedings are being used when it is already too late.

Despite a 7% increase in procedures implementing restructuring plans in January of this year, this mechanism “has not yet taken off in our country” because, in 2024, there will be 334 restructuring plans, which is 2% fewer than the 341 in 2023.

When comparing Spain’s figures to those of other nations in our region, we find that bankruptcies have increased in nearly every instance: in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and France, they have increased by 23.7%, 17.5%, 13.3%, and 7.29%, respectively, while in the UK, they have reduced by 5%.

Competitions’ development since before the epidemic

According to economists who have examined data on bankruptcies since 2019, prior to the coronavirus epidemic, company bankruptcies have increased by 38% and individual and self-employed worker bankruptcies by 1,300%, meaning that they have essentially multiplied by 14.

Refor suggests that the use of second chance procedures may be the cause of the little increase in bankruptcies.

Between 2023 and 2024, the number of micro-enterprise electronic processes tripled, from 463 to 1,380.