A total of 10,243 businesses in Belgium were declared bankrupt in 2023, presenting an 11% increase from the 9,265 bankruptcies in 2022, according to figures released by Statbel.
The Flemish Region witnessed a record number of bankruptcies (5,908) in 2023 for the period between 2014 to 2023, surpassing the previous peak of 5,287 in 2022. The figure now sits as the third highest over the last decade.
Five activity sectors experienced an unprecedented spike in bankruptcies throughout 2014-2023. The construction sector saw the highest rise with an increase of 29% from 2022, resulting in 1,384 businesses folding.
In comparison, the transportation and storage sectors together accounted for 371 bankruptcies, marking a 19.7% increase from the previous high in 2022. The hospitality industry also struggled, with 1,158 businesses declaring bankruptcy; this was 13.1% more than in 2016 (1,024).
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Although the number of bankruptcies in the Walloon Region rose by 21% compared to 2022, the 2,656 noted instances only represent the fourth highest result of the past decade.
Conversely, the Brussels-Capital Region recorded 1,679 bankruptcies, a 5% decrease from 2022, making 2023 one of the more modest years for bankruptcy following 2020 and 2021.
Aside from the information and communication domain, all sectors were hit by an increased number of bankruptcies in 2023.
The commercial courts pronounced 2,230 bankruptcies in construction and 648 in transport and storage sectors. These figures represent increases of 12.8% and 12.3% respectively from the previous highs set in 2014 for construction (1,977) and transport and storage in 2022 (577).
Furthermore, the number of self-employed bankruptcies also hit a record high for the period 2014-2023 (2,347 last year against 2,186 in 2019, the previous record).
This was also the case for SPRLs in the Flemish Region, where there were 3,595 bankruptcies compared to 3,170 in 2014.
Finally, the number of job losses in 2023 reached record levels over the past ten years in the Flemish Region (16,469 in 2023 against 15,960 in 2014, the previous record) and since 2019 in the Walloon Region (7,035 against 7,991).
The capital took the opposite route with 4,013 bankruptcies in 2023, down from 4,065 in 2020.
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