WIESBADEN – November 13, 2026 -- German district courts registered 17,252 corporate insolvency applications from January to August 2026, 6.6% more than a year earlier, the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) reported. Creditor claims moved the other way: they fell by about 30%, from roughly €37.2 billion to roughly €25.9 billion.
Creditor claims drop by €11.3 billion as case numbers rise
The €11.3 billion decline in claims is equivalent to a fall of about 30% (37.2 to 25.9). Destatis attributes it to more economically significant companies having filed in the first eight months of 2025 than in 2026.
By our calculation, claims per case average about €1.5 million in 2026 (€25.9 billion across 17,252 cases). The implied 2025 figure is about €2.3 million, back-calculated from the 6.6% increase, which puts the 2025 case count at roughly 16,200. For creditors, the rising count therefore carries a smaller exposure per case. Destatis did not name the large companies behind the higher 2025 claims.
Transport and storage records 97.6 insolvencies per 10,000 companies, twice the national rate
Across all sectors, Destatis counted 48.7 corporate insolvencies per 10,000 companies from January to August 2026. Transport and storage had the highest rate at 97.6, about twice that figure. Hospitality followed with 80.1 cases per 10,000 (about 1.6 times the national rate) and construction with 71.9 (about 1.5 times).
August corporate insolvencies rise 4.4% to 2,067, consumer cases up 2.8%
Courts registered 2,067 corporate insolvency applications in August 2026, 4.4% more than in August 2025. That is about 87 more cases, by our calculation from the stated rate. It is also roughly 4% below the January-August monthly average of about 2,157 (17,252 divided by eight).
Consumer insolvencies grew more slowly. August brought 6,301 cases, up 2.8% year on year. From January to August the count reached 52,344, up 1.2%, so corporate cases are growing 5.4 percentage points faster than consumer cases over the eight months.
Applications enter the statistics only after the insolvency court's first decision. According to Destatis, the actual filing date lies roughly three months earlier in many cases.