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In 2024, 11,506 companies went bankrupt in Switzerland – more than ever before. However, the number of newly founded companies is even higher: almost 53,000. 8,779 private individuals also went bankrupt in 2024.
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- 11,506 companies in Switzerland went bankrupt in 2024 – an increase of 15 percent and a new record.
- Sectors such as construction, trade and business services were the hardest hit, while private insolvencies also increased by 6.2%, especially among living persons.
- Just under 53,000 companies were officially founded in 2024 (+2 %), with the services sector accounting for over 70 percent of these. The total number of companies in Switzerland fell by 2.5% due to deletions from the commercial register.
Overall, company bankruptcies increased by 15% to 11,506 in 2024 as a whole. The number of pure corporate insolvencies (+18%), i.e. bankruptcy publications due to over-indebtedness, rose particularly sharply. Meanwhile, bankruptcy publications due to deficiencies in the organization increased by 6.6%.
By canton, the increase was very high in Nidwalden, Appenzell Innerrhoden and Graubünden. This was primarily due to the generally low number of bankruptcies in these cantons. Expressed as a percentage, the increase was very rapid. In Zug, Geneva, Schwyz and Vaud, bankruptcies were at a high level.
The construction industry recorded the most bankruptcies
In terms of sectors, every fifth company bankruptcy was attributable to the construction industry. Trade and business services each accounted for 18 percent of bankruptcies, while 11 percent of all bankruptcies were in the hospitality industry.
The Creditreform experts expect another increase in bankruptcies in the new year. One reason for this is an amendment to the Federal Act on Debt Enforcement and Bankruptcy, which has been in force since the beginning of the year.
This means that taxes, levies and other payments based on public law must now also be claimed through bankruptcy proceedings and no longer through debt collection for seizure.
Also more company formations
It was not only the number of company bankruptcies that increased last year, but also the number of new start-ups. As announced by the Institut für Jungunternehmen (IFJ) on Tuesday, almost 53,000 new companies were registered in the commercial register in 2024. This was over 2 percent more than in 2023.
The IFJ figures are in line with those of Creditreform, which also counted just under 53,000 new start-ups. However, the picture is clouded by the 6.1% increase in deletions from the commercial register to 32,618. This resulted in a net decrease of 2.5 percent in movements in the commercial register.
A quarter of start-ups came from the “business services” sector. The entire tertiary sector, i.e. the service sector including gastronomy and trade, accounts for over 70 percent of start-ups, while manufacturing and construction together account for around 17 percent.
Private insolvencies are also on the rise
Last year, not only more companies but also more private individuals went bankrupt. According to Creditreform, the number of private bankruptcies rose by 6.2 percent to 8,779.
While bankruptcy publications about deceased persons in particular have increased in recent years, there has recently been a significant increase in publications about living persons.