At a glance
- From July 2025 to June 2026, we record 9,301 insolvency cases among German corporations, +23.5% compared with the same period a year earlier. There were 8.6 cases per thousand companies.
- Hospitality (24.2 ‰) and Transport and storage (17.4 ‰) are the most affected. There, the rate is 7 times as high as in the least affected sector.
- Companies aged 3 to 4 years carry the highest risk (12.3 ‰). Companies aged 50 years and over are the least at risk, at 4.2 ‰.
- Companies without registered power of attorney are affected 2.9 times as often as companies with power of attorney, solely managed businesses 2.7 times as often as businesses with three or more people in management.
- Group companies and pure holding companies show considerably lower rates; companies at addresses with a hundred or more other companies show considerably higher ones.
Question and design
Insolvency statistics usually answer the question of how many proceedings were opened in a given period. For assessing a business partner, a borrower or a market, a second question matters more: which companies are affected, measured against their share of the corporate population? An industry with many proceedings can carry a low risk if it is very large, and a small industry a high one.
This report therefore relates every insolvency case to the companies from which it arises. It measures the insolvency rate as the number of cases per thousand companies and distinguishes by industry, region, age of the company, capitalisation, legal form, composition of management and integration into a group.
The observation period covers the twelve months from July 2025 to June 2026. The reference population consists of 1,083,852 companies that already existed at the beginning of the period. The comparison is with the preceding twelve months.
Development
The observation period records 9,301 insolvency cases, compared with 7,533 in the preceding twelve months. The number is thus 23.5 percent higher. Quarterly figures have risen almost continuously since early 2024; Q2 2026, with 2,667 cases, is the strongest in the series.
The comparison with the previous year should be read with one qualification. The data covers companies that are still registered today. Companies whose proceedings were concluded and which were subsequently deleted are missing, and their share is larger for periods further in the past. The reported increase is therefore an upper bound. The direction of the development is unaffected; its strength may be smaller.
The observation period is highlighted. Counted by the date of the most recent insolvency entry, companies still registered today only.
Source: HDH Group, database as of the reference date, own calculation.
Industries
The insolvency rate varies considerably between sectors. Hospitality lead with 24.2 ‰, followed by Transport and storage (17.4 ‰), Other business services (14.5 ‰) and Construction (14.1 ‰). Energy supply and Financial and insurance services stand at the end of the ranking.
The leading positions belong to sectors with three common features: low capital intensity, high personnel costs relative to revenue and demand that responds immediately to price increases and customer restraint. At the lower end are sectors with high capital intensity or predominantly asset managing activities, whose continuity depends to a lesser degree on current business.
All companies: 8.6 ‰
Sectors according to the sections of NACE Rev. 2.1, from 1,000 companies. The number of cases follows the dot.
Source: HDH Group, database as of the reference date, own calculation.
At the level of divisions, the hot spots stand out more sharply. Table 1 shows the twelve divisions with the highest rate; the change against the previous year is shown where both values are based on at least thirty cases.
| Division | Companies | Cases | per thousand | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 80 Investigation and security activities | 3,878 | 99 | 25.5 ‰ | +62.3% |
| 56 Food and beverage service | 23,951 | 602 | 25.1 ‰ | +40.3% |
| 78 Employment activities | 8,643 | 193 | 22.3 ‰ | +20.6% |
| 55 Accommodation | 7,139 | 149 | 20.9 ‰ | +170.9% |
| 49 Land transport and transport via pipelines | 16,169 | 305 | 18.9 ‰ | +28.7% |
| 92 Gambling and betting activities | 3,053 | 56 | 18.3 ‰ | +43.6% |
| 42 Civil engineering | 5,520 | 89 | 16.1 ‰ | +39.1% |
| 41 Building construction | 14,455 | 231 | 16.0 ‰ | +12.1% |
| 81 Services to buildings and landscape activities | 16,595 | 253 | 15.3 ‰ | +28.4% |
| 52 Warehousing, storage and support activities for transportation | 10,925 | 160 | 14.7 ‰ | +41.6% |
| 18 Printing and reproduction of recorded media | 3,479 | 49 | 14.1 ‰ | ±0.0% |
| 10 Manufacture of food products | 8,081 | 110 | 13.6 ‰ | +29.4% |
Divisions with at least 3,000 companies.
Source: HDH Group, database as of the reference date, own calculation.
Regions
Among the federal states, Berlin shows the highest rate at 10.0 ‰, followed by Hesse (9.8 ‰) and Mecklenburg Western Pomerania (9.6 ‰). It is lowest in Hamburg (6.1 ‰) and Thuringia (6.7 ‰).
Part of the regional differences is explained by the composition of the corporate population. Where the share of young and thinly capitalised companies is high, the rate is higher as well. Across the states, the rank correlation between the share of entrepreneurial companies (UG) and the insolvency rate is ρ = 0.45.
Germany as a whole: 8.6 ‰
The number of cases follows the dot.
Source: HDH Group, database as of the reference date, own calculation.
Age of the company
Organisational research describes two patterns by which the risk of failure depends on the age of a company. According to the liability of newness thesis, the risk is highest immediately after formation and declines steadily thereafter (Stinchcombe 1965). According to the liability of adolescence thesis, it is low in the first years, because initial capital and early confidence carry the company, then rises and falls only after some years (Brüderl and Schüssler 1990).
The data follows the second pattern. Companies under three years old have a rate of 8.3 ‰. Companies aged 3 to 4 years reach the highest value at 12.3 ‰. Thereafter the risk declines markedly, down to 4.2 ‰ for companies aged 50 years and over.
At the median, a company is 8.1 years old at the time of insolvency; the middle half lies between 4.5 and 15.9 years. 12.9% of the companies affected were younger than three years, 18.9% had existed for twenty years or longer.
All companies: 8.6 ‰
Source: HDH Group, database as of the reference date, own calculation.
Companies with a known date of incorporation (9,174 cases).
Source: HDH Group, database as of the reference date, own calculation.
Capital and legal form
Share capital separates companies with high and low risk only weakly. The highest rate is found in the band under EUR 25,000 (10.2 ‰), the lowest in the band 50,000 to under EUR 100,000 (6.4 ‰). Companies with exactly the statutory minimum capital of EUR 25,000 form the largest group, with 604,564 businesses.
The differences between legal forms are moderate. The limited liability company (GmbH) reaches 8.6 ‰, the entrepreneurial company with limited liability (UG) 10.3 ‰, stock corporations and related forms 9.4 ‰. The UG is thus 19 percent above the GmbH. The gap is smaller than its reputation would suggest, and considerably smaller than the differences by age of the company or by the composition of its management.
| Group | Companies | Cases | per thousand | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Share capital under EUR 25,000 | 130,316 | 1,326 | 10.2 ‰ | +44.6% |
| Share capital exactly EUR 25,000 | 604,564 | 5,578 | 9.2 ‰ | +23.5% |
| Share capital over 25,000 to under EUR 50,000 | 128,067 | 849 | 6.6 ‰ | +9.5% |
| Share capital 50,000 to under EUR 100,000 | 127,702 | 818 | 6.4 ‰ | +18.4% |
| Share capital 100,000 to under EUR 1 million | 71,135 | 601 | 8.5 ‰ | +14.7% |
| Share capital EUR 1 million and more | 19,004 | 126 | 6.6 ‰ | +23.5% |
| AG, SE, KGaA | 9,978 | 94 | 9.4 ‰ | +8.0% |
| GmbH | 880,112 | 7,566 | 8.6 ‰ | +20.7% |
| UG (limited liability) | 127,417 | 1,307 | 10.3 ‰ | +43.8% |
Source: HDH Group, database as of the reference date, own calculation.
Management and representation
The clearest differences appear in the composition of management. Solely managed companies have a rate of 9.4 ‰, companies with three or more people in management 3.5 ‰. Companies without registered power of attorney reach 8.7 ‰, companies with power of attorney 3.0 ‰.
Both characteristics stand for size and division of labour. A company that grants power of attorney has a second management tier, and with it as a rule a certain size, orderly accounting and more than one person who notices developments. The characteristic is simple to establish and separates more clearly than share capital.
The age of management is also related to the risk. If the oldest member of management is younger than 30, the rate is 12.9 ‰; at 50 to 59 years it is 7.6 ‰. This mainly reflects the age of the companies that young people run.
| Group | Companies | Cases | per thousand |
|---|---|---|---|
| Management: one person | 680,955 | 6,409 | 9.4 ‰ |
| Management: two people | 228,888 | 960 | 4.2 ‰ |
| Management: three or more people | 52,283 | 181 | 3.5 ‰ |
| Without registered power of attorney | 822,370 | 7,126 | 8.7 ‰ |
| With registered power of attorney | 139,756 | 424 | 3.0 ‰ |
| Oldest member of management under 30 years | 25,875 | 333 | 12.9 ‰ |
| Oldest member of management 30 to 39 years | 116,354 | 1,209 | 10.4 ‰ |
| Oldest member of management 40 to 49 years | 207,306 | 1,921 | 9.3 ‰ |
| Oldest member of management 50 to 59 years | 282,716 | 2,158 | 7.6 ‰ |
| Oldest member of management 60 to 69 years | 240,628 | 1,398 | 5.8 ‰ |
| Oldest member of management 70 and over years | 89,042 | 530 | 6.0 ‰ |
Companies with recorded management and known age.
Source: HDH Group, database as of the reference date, own calculation.
Group, holding and address
Companies integrated into a group through a domination or profit transfer agreement have a rate of 5.0 ‰, compared with 8.7 ‰ for all others. The parent company absorbs their losses and secures their continuity as long as it exists itself. Pure holding companies reach 3.9 ‰, because they conduct no operating business of their own.
The address shows a particular pattern. Companies that are the only one registered at their business address have a rate of 8.2 ‰. At addresses with a hundred or more companies it rises to 11.9 ‰. Such addresses frequently belong to service providers that rent out business premises and postal addresses; companies without their own operations at the registered office gather there.
All companies: 8.6 ‰
Source: HDH Group, database as of the reference date, own calculation.
Liquidation without insolvency
Not every company that ceases operations goes through insolvency proceedings. The database contains 77,569 companies in liquidation without any recorded insolvency, and 45,929 companies with an insolvency entry. The ratio of the two routes is a measure of how often owners wind up their company in an orderly manner.
In Telecommunications and information technology there are 3.2 liquidations for every insolvency, in Financial and insurance services 3.1. At the other end are Construction (0.9) and Transport and storage (0.9). Where little capital is tied up and liabilities are low, a company can more easily be closed in an orderly fashion; where suppliers, staff and rents are ongoing, it more often ends in proceedings.
Ratio of companies in liquidation without an insolvency entry to companies with an insolvency entry in the database as of the reference date.
Source: HDH Group, database as of the reference date, own calculation.
Assessment
Insolvencies are unevenly distributed, and the characteristics that account for this inequality are publicly visible. Industry, age of the company, composition of management and integration into a group clearly separate companies with high and low risk. Share capital and legal form separate them far less, although these are precisely the features most often used for assessment in practice.
For credit insurers, factoring companies and suppliers, it follows that an initial rating of business partners is possible without access to their accounts. For asset realisers, auction houses and acquirers of distressed companies, the figures show where opportunities cluster. And for advisers who support restructurings, they describe the group in which the need arises before proceedings are opened.
Method and limitations
Data basis
The basis is the HDH Group database of registered corporations with their registered office in Germany, as of 23 October 2026. The reference population consists of 1,083,852 companies that were incorporated before the beginning of the observation period or whose date of incorporation is unknown.
Definitions
- Insolvency case: a company whose most recent insolvency entry falls within the observation period. As a rule this is the opening of proceedings, but it may also be the rejection for lack of assets or a later procedural step. Each company is counted at most once.
- Insolvency rate: insolvency cases in the observation period per thousand companies of the respective group.
- Observation period: 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026; comparison period 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025.
- Age of the company: time since conclusion of the articles of association or adoption of the statutes.
- Liquidation without insolvency: a company in liquidation for which no insolvency entry exists.
Limitations
- The data covers companies that are still registered today. Cases whose companies have already been deleted are missing. For the observation period this effect is small, for the comparison period larger. The reported change is therefore an upper bound.
- The assignment of a case to a month follows the most recent insolvency entry. If the opening is followed by a further procedural step within the period, the case is counted once, at the later date.
- The characteristics of the companies describe their state as of the reference date. For management and power of attorney, this may already have changed in the course of the proceedings.
- Relationships between characteristics and rate are descriptive. Several characteristics are interrelated, for instance the age of a company, its legal form and its capital; an individual difference should be read as an association and is no proof of the causal effect of a single characteristic.
Literature
- Brüderl, J. and Schüssler, R. (1990): Organizational Mortality: The Liabilities of Newness and Adolescence. Administrative Science Quarterly 35 (3), pp. 530 to 547.
- Stinchcombe, A. L. (1965): Social Structure and Organizations. In: March, J. G. (ed.): Handbook of Organizations. Chicago, pp. 142 to 193.
How to cite
HDH Group (2026): Insolvency and liquidation of German companies. Insolvency cases of the past twelve months by industry, region, age, capital, legal form and management. HDH Group Research, as of 23 October 2026. https://hdhgroup.de/en/reports/insolvencies
The results may be used freely provided the source is acknowledged. For questions on method and data, for analyses to your own definition and for press enquiries, please reach us via the contact page.