In the second quarter of 2025, the number of registrations of EU businesses increased by 4.6% compared with the first quarter of 2025. 

At the same time, the number of bankruptcy declarations increased by 1.7% compared with the first quarter of 2025. 

This information comes from data on business registrations and bankruptcies published by Eurostat today. This article presents a handful of findings from the more detailed Statistics Explained article on quarterly registrations of new businesses and declarations of bankruptcies. 

Registrations of businesses and declaration of bankruptcies in the EU, Q1 2018 to Q2 2025, seasonally adjusted data; 2021=100. Chart. See link to the full dataset below.

Source dataset: sts_rb_q

Business registrations rose 

In the second quarter of 2025, the number of business registrations increased across all sectors of the economy compared with the previous quarter, with the exception of industry, where there was no change. The highest growth was in transport (+13.1%), information and communication (+8.2%) and financial services (+5.2%). 

Mixed trends in bankruptcy declarations

In the second quarter of 2025, the bankruptcy declarations showed mixed trends across sectors. The number of bankruptcies increased in 4 sectors, while 4 others registered a decrease. The largest increase was recorded for the information and communication sector (+13.6%) and construction (+8.1%), while the largest decrease in bankruptcies was registered in accommodation and food services (-7.5%) and trade (-3.7%).