A total of 11,067 companies were declared bankrupt in Belgium last year, a figure up 8% compared to 2023 and the highest since 2013 (11,740 bankruptcies), the Belgian Statistics Office said on Friday. Statbel.
In Flanders (north of the country), the number of companies having gone out of business reached a new record in 2024, at 6,323, exceeding by 7% the previous record established at 5,908 in 2023, underlined the Office, noting that this number also increases in Wallonia (south) by 6.2%, to amount to 2,821 bankruptcies, even if this is not the case here of a record.
In the Brussels Region, Statbel recorded 1,923 bankruptcies, or 14.5% more than in 2023. However, this remains far from the records before the health crisis when there were almost 3,000 bankruptcies.
Many sectors of activity recorded an increase in the number of bankruptcies last year and two sectors observed a double-digit increase: construction with 2,619 bankruptcies, or 17.4% more than in 2023, and transport and warehousing where 724 bankruptcies were recorded (+11.7%).
-These approximately 11,000 bankruptcies generated 32,566 job losses, a value up 18.3% compared to 2023, Statbel noted.
The regional analysis reveals some disparities between Flanders which presents the highest number of job losses in the last twelve years (19,179), Wallonia where the total of 8,573 had not been reached since 2015 and the Brussels Region which , with 4,814 layoffs, certainly appears to be a sharp increase compared to 2023 (+ 20%) but remains well below pre-covid levels.
