In 2011, the District Courts issued judgements relating to 7,229 bankruptcies, of which 6,958 concerned companies (including sole
traders) and 271 concerned private individuals. This constitutes a decrease, compared with 2010, of 4 per cent for companies while the
number of bankruptcies relating to private individuals, for the most art, remained unchanged. The number of employees affected by bankruptcies in 2011 amounted to 23,781, a reduction of 12 per cent compared with 2010. Unless otherwise specified, all comparisons below refer to the previous year, 2010.

Divided into type of company, bankruptcies in limited companies fell by 3 per cent, in partnerships etc.3 by 8 per cent and in sole traders by 11 per cent. The number of bankruptcies amounted to 5,539 in limited companies, 951 in sole traders and 468 in partnerships etc.

The development between the different counties varied considerably. Bankruptcies increased highest proportionally in Blekinge County with 23 per cent while the number of bankruptcies fell by 30 per cent in Gotland County and by 25 per cent in Jönköping County

In Stockholm County, the number of company bankruptcies fell by 7 per cent, whereas the number of employees affected by bankruptcies fell by 18 per cent. In Västra Götaland County the number of company bankruptcies fell by 10 per cent while the number of employees affected by bankruptcy increased from 3,655 in 2010 to 7,162 in 2011. In Skån

County, the number of company bankruptcies fell by 6 per cent, whereas the number of employees affected by bankruptcies fell by 21 per cent. The number of company bankruptcies during the year amounted to 2,237 in Stockholm County, 1,055 in Västra Götaland County and 1,002 in Skåne County

The number of companies that were declared bankrupt in relation to the number of companies4 per county in 2011 was highest in Stockholm County, where 0.8 per cent 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 Västra Götaland County, where 1.1 per cent of employees were affected by bankruptcies. In the entire country, the percentage of companies declared bankrupt was 0.6 per cent and the percentage of employees was 0.6 per cent.

Within Manufacturing (excluding Mining and mineral extraction), the number of bankruptcies fell by 14 per cent while the number of bankruptcies increased by 2 per cent within Construction and by 3 per cent within Retail. Within Private services, the number of company bankruptcies fell by 4 per cent.

Divided into detailed industry groups, the largest number of companies declared bankrupt in relation to company size was in the Hotel and Restaurant and the Pulp, Paper and Paper Products sectors, where 1.8 per cent of the companies were declared bankrupt during 2011. The percentage of employees who were affected by bankruptcies, in relation to the total number of employees, was highest in the industry sector Transport Industry, where 5.8 per cent of employees were affected by bankruptcies.

Of the companies declared bankrupt in 2011, 1.6 per cent were registered as new companies in the company register during the same year and 12.5 per cent in 2010. 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 54 per cent of the companies that were declared bankrupt in 2011 were registered in the time period 2006 to 2011. Divided into counties, the percentage was highest in Östergötland County, with a share of 59.6 per cent, and lowest in Jämtland County with 40.6 per cent

In the building industry, 68.5 per cent of the companies that were declared bankrupt in 2011 had been registered in the time period 2006 to 2011. This can be compared with Manufacturing, where 42.7 per cent of the companies were registered during the corresponding period.
The number of public compositions during the year amounted to 77, compared with 79 in 2010. The number of employees in these companies was 2,357, compared with 2,381 in 2010.