StatBank table 12972 has temporarily been removed due to an error. The amended table will be released later.
Errors were discovered in the figures for the 1st quarter of 2025. Corrected figures were published on 29 April 29 2025.
Statistikk innhold
Statistics on
Bankruptcies
The statistics give an overview of bankruptcies in Norway and are based on data from the Bankruptcy Register.
Selected figures from the statistics
- BankruptciesDownload table as ...Bankruptcies
2nd quarter 2024 3rd quarter 2024 4th quarter 2024 1st quarter 2025 Total number of bankruptcies 1 272 939 1 199 1 178 Bankruptices related to enterprises 1 085 856 1 006 1 027 Personal bankruptcies, incl. sole proprietorships 187 83 193 151 Bankruptcies in construction 400 267 323 298 Bankruptcies in wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles 210 171 224 222 Explanation of symbolsDownload table as ... - Bankruptcies, by industrial activityDownload table as ...Bankruptcies, by industrial activity
1st quarter 2024 1st quarter 2025 Bankruptcies related to enterprises, excl. sole proprietorships Bankruptcies related to sole proprietorships, incl. personal bankruptcies Bankruptcies related to enterprises, excl. sole proprietorships Bankruptcies related to sole proprietorships, incl. personal bankruptcies Total 970 163 1 027 151 Agriculture, forestry and fishing 10 3 7 4 Mining and quarrying 1 0 0 0 Manufacturing 43 1 44 3 Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply 0 0 2 0 Water supply 2 0 1 0 Construction 270 65 246 52 Wholesale and retail trade 217 7 214 8 Transportation and storage 40 32 44 22 Accommodation and food service activities 101 3 120 6 Information and communication 45 5 46 6 Financial and insurance activities 7 0 6 0 Real estate activities 45 1 52 0 Professional, scientific and technical activities 83 10 111 14 Administrative and support service activities 41 20 42 11 Public administration and defence 0 0 0 0 Education 10 1 9 0 Human health and social work activities 11 3 6 3 Arts, entertainment and recreation 13 3 18 3 Other service activities 20 6 34 10 Activities of household as employers 0 0 0 0 Activities of extraterritorial organisations and bodies 0 0 0 0 Unknown industry 11 3 25 9 Explanation of symbolsDownload table as ... - Bankruptcies, turnover and persons employed, by industrial activityDownload table as ...Bankruptcies, turnover and persons employed, by industrial activity
1st quarter 2024 1st quarter 2025 Bankruptcies Turnover in NOK 1 000 Persons employed Bankruptcies Turnover in NOK 1 000 Persons employed Total 1 133 6 731 474 4 443 1 178 8 495 102 4 483 Bankruptcies related to enterprises except sole proprietorships 970 6 603 316 4 282 1 027 8 407 255 4 377 Agriculture, forestry and fishing 10 .. 104 7 21 490 25 Mining and quarrying 1 .. 5 0 0 0 Manufacturing 43 .. 671 44 1 090 383 403 Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply 0 0 0 2 .. 1 Water supply 2 .. 6 1 .. 0 Construction 270 2 192 983 1 207 246 2 273 585 1 241 Wholesale and retail trade 217 1 754 548 980 214 2 234 495 890 Transportation and storage 40 213 533 211 44 911 539 475 Accommodation and food service activities 101 .. 437 120 364 218 466 Information and communication 45 143 426 74 46 105 128 89 Financial and insurance activities 7 0 9 6 475 10 Real estate activities 45 .. 21 52 .. 50 Professional, scientific and technical activities 83 273 402 135 111 968 033 403 Administrative and support service activities 41 262 890 299 42 121 208 160 Public administration and defence 0 0 0 0 0 0 Education 10 .. 13 9 .. 17 Human health and social work activities 11 .. 21 6 .. 6 Arts, entertainment and recreation 13 .. 37 18 65 442 86 Other service activities 20 27 724 51 34 29 275 50 Activities of household as employers 0 0 0 0 0 0 Activities of extraterritorial organisations and bodies 0 0 0 0 0 0 Unknown industry 11 .. 1 25 63 737 5 Sole proprietorships incl. personal bankruptcies 163 128 158 161 151 87 847 106 Agriculture, forestry and fishing 3 .. 5 4 1 295 3 Mining and quarrying 0 0 0 0 0 0 Manufacturing 1 .. 1 3 838 2 Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply 0 0 0 0 0 0 Water supply 0 0 0 0 0 0 Construction 65 50 639 56 52 49 067 45 Wholesale and retail trade 7 2 476 4 8 2 232 3 Transportation and storage 32 29 014 49 22 10 148 13 Accommodation and food service activities 3 .. 4 6 11 150 16 Information and communication 5 3 122 5 6 875 3 Financial and insurance activities 0 0 0 0 0 0 Real estate activities 1 .. .. 0 0 0 Professional, scientific and technical activities 10 7 515 10 14 6 806 6 Administrative and support service activities 20 5 547 14 11 1 741 7 Public administration and defence 0 0 0 0 0 0 Education 1 .. 0 0 0 0 Human health and social work activities 3 .. 5 3 576 1 Arts, entertainment and recreation 3 .. 3 3 363 1 Other service activities 6 4 230 5 10 2 756 6 Activities of household as employers 0 0 0 0 0 0 Activities of extraterritorial organisations and bodies 0 0 0 0 0 0 Unknown industry 3 .. .. 9 .. .. Explanation of symbolsDownload table as ... - Bankruptcies in private limited companies and public limited companies, by county and share capital (in NOK)Download table as ...Bankruptcies in private limited companies and public limited companies, by county and share capital (in NOK)
1st quarter 2024 1st quarter 2025 Total Less than 51 000 51 000-100 000 101 000-250 000 251 000-500 000 More than 500 000 Total Less than 51 000 51 000-100 000 101 000-250 000 251 000-500 000 More than 500 000 Total 958 610 130 66 53 99 1 013 668 135 63 40 107 Østfold 49 38 6 2 1 2 51 40 5 3 0 3 Akershus 137 99 11 9 6 12 152 107 24 6 4 11 Viken (2020-2023) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Oslo 159 116 17 5 8 13 174 126 21 8 5 14 Innlandet 68 39 9 7 8 5 67 43 8 6 3 7 Buskerud 42 25 6 4 1 6 50 37 7 1 1 4 Vestfold 71 50 10 5 0 6 46 30 4 4 3 5 Telemark 31 18 6 4 1 2 40 31 3 2 1 3 Vestfold og Telemark (2020-2023) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Agder 48 26 7 5 2 8 71 41 5 5 5 15 Rogaland 65 35 12 4 4 10 63 41 9 6 3 4 Vestland 85 47 17 8 3 10 106 70 16 4 6 10 Møre og Romsdal 54 26 8 3 7 10 41 20 8 3 4 6 Trøndelag - Trööndelage 73 45 12 6 4 6 86 46 11 9 5 15 Nordland - Nordlánnda 39 22 3 2 5 7 37 19 8 3 0 7 Troms - Romsa - Tromssa 19 13 3 2 1 0 22 14 4 2 0 2 Finnmark - Finnmárku - Finmarkku 18 11 3 0 2 2 7 3 2 1 0 1 Troms og Finnmark - Romsa ja Finnmárku (2020-2023) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Svalbard 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Explanation of symbolsDownload table as ... - Bankruptcies, by county and legal formDownload table as ...Bankruptcies, by county and legal form
1st quarter 2024 1st quarter 2025 Total Sole proprietorships incl. personal bankruptcy General Partnership Private limited company Public limited company Company with limited liability Norwegian division of foreign enterprise Other legal form Unknown Total Sole proprietorships incl. personal bankruptcy General Partnership Private limited company Public limited company Company with limited liability Norwegian division of foreign enterprise Other legal form Unknown Total 1 133 163 0 958 0 0 5 7 0 1 177 150 1 1 012 1 0 10 3 0 Østfold 60 10 0 49 0 0 0 1 0 76 24 0 51 0 0 1 0 0 Akershus 186 45 0 137 0 0 2 2 0 194 37 0 152 0 0 5 0 0 Viken (2020-2023) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Oslo 198 38 0 159 0 0 1 0 0 214 38 1 174 0 0 1 0 0 Innlandet 73 3 0 68 0 0 0 2 0 74 6 0 67 0 0 1 0 0 Buskerud 51 8 0 42 0 0 0 1 0 60 9 0 50 0 0 0 1 0 Vestfold 82 11 0 71 0 0 0 0 0 48 2 0 46 0 0 0 0 0 Telemark 38 5 0 31 0 0 2 0 0 44 3 0 40 0 0 1 0 0 Agder 51 3 0 48 0 0 0 0 0 74 2 0 71 0 0 0 1 0 Rogaland 70 5 0 65 0 0 0 0 0 70 7 0 62 1 0 0 0 0 Vestland 99 14 0 85 0 0 0 0 0 115 9 0 106 0 0 0 0 0 Møre og Romsdal 59 5 0 54 0 0 0 0 0 45 4 0 41 0 0 0 0 0 Trøndelag - Trööndelage 84 10 0 73 0 0 0 1 0 91 4 0 86 0 0 1 0 0 Nordland - Nordlánnda 41 2 0 39 0 0 0 0 0 38 1 0 37 0 0 0 0 0 Troms - Romsa - Tromssa 20 1 0 19 0 0 0 0 0 23 0 0 22 0 0 0 1 0 Finnmark - Finnmárku - Finmarkku 21 3 0 18 0 0 0 0 0 10 3 0 7 0 0 0 0 0 Troms og Finnmark - Romsa ja Finnmárku (2020-2023) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Svalbard 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 County not stated 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Explanation of symbolsDownload table as ...
About the statistics
The information under «About the statistics» was last updated 23 April 2021.
All juridical objects, which includes all types of firms/enterprises and individuals who have unpaid accounts and are by definition insolvent, can be declared bankrupt. Insolvency is defined as: "When one cannot fulfil its obligations after they have matured." An exception from this is when the insolvency is incidental.
Name: Bankruptcies
Topic: Establishments, enterprises and accounts
Division for Business Dynamics Statistics
National, county and municipality level
Monthly and quarterly
The monthly bankruptcy statistics is based on information from the Register of Bankruptcies in Brønnøysund, which Statistics Norway receives once a month. The data contains data on bankruptcies from the 15th of the previous month to the 15th of the current month. The data is revised so that the file contains data for the whole previous month. Monthly numbers of bankruptcies, forced sales and registration execution proceedings are published in table 07218 in StatBank. Other monthly numbers are published in table 09695 og 08551 in StatBank.
Quarterly bankruptcy statistics is based on monthly data, which Statistics Norway receives from the Register of Bankruptcies in Brønnøysund. It is published at the end of the following month after each quarter.
Data is part of a delivery til OECD and a voluntary data collection to Eurostat.
Micro data and information on population are temporarily stored in the program language SAS and over the long term as text files. A main file is updated with new data each month. StatBank is updated each quarter.
The purpose of the statistics is to give a survey on bankruptcies in Norway. Furthermore, it provides a categorisation by county, industry, ownership, as well as number of employees, turnover and amount of share capital.
Data on bankruptcies is available from 1920, and for some industries from 1929. Data from 1981 is available in a database.
From 1995 onwards, it has been possible to identify personal bankruptcies. From the same year, categorisation by industries was based on a new industry standard, called SN94. The Central Register of Establishments and Enterprises is used to categorise the statistics by industries.
Categorisation by industry for personal bankruptcies is mainly based on information from the probate registry. From 1995 to 2001, personal bankruptcies were given a 2-digit industry code by the probate registry. From 2001 onwards, Statistics Norway has determined the 2-digit industry code based on profession descriptions from the Register of Bankruptcies.
The data from the Register of Bankruptcies in Brønnøysund is supplemented with information from the Business Register, the Central Coordinating Register for Legal Entities and the Value Added Tax Registration List (the VAT Register).
Users of the statistics are among others financial institutions and the media.
Principles for equal treatment of users in releasing statistics and analyses
No external users have access to the statistics and analyses before they are published and accessible simultaneously for all users on www.ssb.no at 8 am. Prior to this, a minimum of three months' advance notice is given in the Statistics Release Calendar.
The main variables for bankruptcies are: code for municipality and industry, legal forms, number of employees, turnover and amount of share capital. The statistics is linked to the Business Register, the Central Coordinating Register for Legal Entities and the VAT Register. This includes both personal bankrupties (including sole proprietorships) and bankruptcies related to enterprises (exclusive sole proprietorships).
Statistics Act Section 3-2
The statistics includes all bankruptcies in Norway. Information on bankruptcy proceedings is mainly based on information that probate registries and administrators in bankruptcies report to the Register of Bankruptcies. Personal bankruptcies contain bankruptcy proceedings for sole proprietorships and employees. If the debtor is not registered in the Enterprise Register in Brønnøysund, or is a sole proprietorship, the debtor will be classified as en employee. Bankruptcies related to enterprises (exclusive sole proprietorships) are obliged to be registered in the Enterprise register in Brønnøysund.
The data is based on information from the Register of Bankruptcies.
The Register of Bankruptcies transfers a file with bankruptcies to Statistics Norway on the 17th of each month.
Statistics Norway assumes that information on bankruptcies from the Register of Bankruptcies is correct.
If the number of bankruptcies is 3 or less, figures on turnover are not published.
Serial data on bankruptcies is available from 1920, and for some industries from 1929. Data on bankruptcies from 1981 exists in a database. In StatBank, bankruptcy statistics from the 1st quarter of 1999 is presented, as well as total yearly numbers on bankruptcies from 1980.
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Statistics Norway assumes that information on bankruptcies transferred by the Register of Bankruptcies is correct.