According to preliminary data released by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) last Friday, the German local courts registered 2,053 corporate insolvency applications in February 2026. This figure represented a decrease of 0.7 percent compared to the same month last year.
It is important to note that the statistical data only becomes available after the insolvency court makes its initial decision, meaning the actual filing date of the application is often nearly three months earlier. Furthermore, since data from Rhineland-Palatinate was unavailable for February 2026, last year’s figures for that state were used in the calculation of the national result.
The total claims submitted by creditors from the corporate insolvencies reported in February 2026 amounted to approximately 2.5 billion euros, down significantly from the roughly 9.0 billion euros recorded in February 2025.
When indexed per 10,000 companies, there were a total of 5.8 corporate insolvencies in February 2026. The highest rate of insolvency was observed in the transport and warehousing sector, registering 11.1 cases per 10,000 companies. This was followed by the hospitality industry with 9.7 cases and the construction sector with 8.8 insolvencies.
In a separate report, Destatis announced that there were 6,112 consumer insolvencies recorded in January 2026, marking a 0.6 percent increase over the previous year.
