The County Courts issued judgments in 2010 about 7,546 bankruptcies, of which 7,274 were related to companies and 272 were related to private individuals. This means a reduction of 5 percent compared with 2009 for companies and an increase of 7 percent for private individuals. The number of employees affected by bankruptcies in 2010 amounted to 21,182
people, a reduction of 27 percent compared with 2009. Unless otherwise specified, all comparisons below refer to the previous year, 2009.

Allocated by type of company, bankruptcies in limited companies fell by 11 percent, whereas bankruptcies increased by 14 percent in partnerships etc3 and 39 percent in sole traders. The number of bankruptcies amounted to 5,704 in limited companies, 1,064 in sole traders and 506 in partnerships.

The number of company bankruptcies, allocated by county, increased most by percentage in Örebro county, by 42 percent, Västmanlands county, by 17 percent and Uppsala county, by 13 percent. The number of employees affected by bankruptcies in these counties increased by 20.6 and 27 percent respectively.

In Stockholm county, the number of company bankruptcies and number of employees affected by bankruptcies fell by 6 percent and 43 percent respectively. In Västra Götaland county, the number of company bankruptcies fell by 3 percent, whereas the number of employees fell by 26 percent. In Skåne county, the number of company bankruptcies fell by 8 percent, whereas the number of employees affected by bankruptcies fell by 7 percent The number of company bankruptcies during the year amounted to 2,408 in Stockholm county, 1,178 in Västra Götaland county and 947 in Skåne county.

The number of companies that were declared bankrupt in relation to the number of companies4 per county in 2010 was highest in Stockholm county, where 1.0 percent of the companies were declared bankrupt.. The percentage of employees who were affected by bankruptcies, in relation to the total number of employees, was highest in Jämtland county, where 1.0 percent of employees were affected by bankruptcies. In the entire country, the percentage of companies declared bankrupt was 0.8 percent and the percentage of employees was 0.5 percent.

The companies that were declared bankrupt had an average of 2.9 employees per company. The average was 2.2 employees in Stockholm county, 3.1 employees in Västra Götaland county and 3.3 employees per company in Skåne county. The highest average was in Kronoberg county, where there were 5.2 employees, and the lowest was in Stockholm county, where there were 2.2 employees per company.

The number of bankruptcies in agriculture, forestry and fishing increased by 45 percent, from 86 companies in 2009 to 125 companies in 2010. The number of bankruptcies in manufacturing industry (not including mines and mineral extraction companies) fell by 19 percent and the number of bankruptcies in the building industry fell by 5 percent. The number of company bankruptcies in the service industries fell by 2 percent, and number of company bankruptcies in retail trade fell by 18 percent.

Allocated by detailed industry groups, the largest number of companies declared bankrupt in relation to company size was in hotel and restaurants, where 1.9 percent of the companies was declared bankrupt during 2010. The number of employees affected by bankruptcies, in relation to the total number of employees, was highest in the industry groups of textile, clothing and leather goods, and in graphics and other printing trades, where 3.5 and 3.4 percent respectively of the employees were affected by bankruptcies.

1.5 percent of the companies registered as new in the company register during 2010 was declared bankrupt during the same year. Less than 9 percent had been registered in 2009 and 14.4 percent during 2008. A registration takes place in the company register when a completely new business starts up, but also when a business changes owner or legal structure. More than 52 percent of the companies that were declared bankrupt in 2010 had been registered in the time frame from 2005 to 2010. Allocated by county, the percentage was highest in Gotland county, with a share of almost 79 percent, and lowest in Kronoberg percent with 40.4 percent.

In the building industry, 67 percent of the companies that were declared bankrupt in 2010 had been registered in the time frame from 2005 to 2010. This can be compared with manufacturing industry, where 38 percent of the companies had been registered during the equivalent period. The number of compositions without bankruptcies during the year amounted to 79, compared with 108 in 2009. The number of employees in these companies was 2,381 people, compared with 8,487 in 2009.