Bankruptcies

All juridical objects, which includes all types of firms/enterprises and individuals who have unpaid accounts and are by definition insolvent, can be declared bankrupt. Insolvency is defined as: "When one cannot fulfil its obligations after they have matured." An exception from this is when the insolvency is incidental.

Standard for Industrial Classification (SIC2007)

Classification of Organization form

Name: Bankruptcies
Topic: Establishments, enterprises and accounts

Division for Business Dynamics Statistics

National, county and municipality level

Monthly and quarterly

The monthly bankruptcy statistics is based on information from the Register of Bankruptcies in Brønnøysund, which Statistics Norway receives once a month. The data contains data on bankruptcies from the 15th of the previous month to the 15th of the current month. The data is revised so that the file contains data for the whole previous month. Monthly numbers of bankruptcies, forced sales and registration execution proceedings are published in table 07218 in StatBank. Other monthly numbers are published in table 09695 og 08551 in StatBank.

Quarterly bankruptcy statistics is based on monthly data, which Statistics Norway receives from the Register of Bankruptcies in Brønnøysund. It is published at the end of the following month after each quarter.

Data is part of a delivery til OECD and a voluntary data collection to Eurostat.

Micro data and information on population are temporarily stored in the program language SAS and over the long term as text files. A main file is updated with new data each month. StatBank is updated each quarter.

The purpose of the statistics is to give a survey on bankruptcies in Norway. Furthermore, it provides a categorisation by county, industry, ownership, as well as number of employees, turnover and amount of share capital.

Data on bankruptcies is available from 1920, and for some industries from 1929. Data from 1981 is available in a database.

From 1995 onwards, it has been possible to identify personal bankruptcies. From the same year, categorisation by industries was based on a new industry standard, called SN94. The Central Register of Establishments and Enterprises is used to categorise the statistics by industries.

Categorisation by industry for personal bankruptcies is mainly based on information from the probate registry. From 1995 to 2001, personal bankruptcies were given a 2-digit industry code by the probate registry. From 2001 onwards, Statistics Norway has determined the 2-digit industry code based on profession descriptions from the Register of Bankruptcies.

The data from the Register of Bankruptcies in Brønnøysund is supplemented with information from the Business Register, the Central Coordinating Register for Legal Entities and the Value Added Tax Registration List (the VAT Register).

Users of the statistics are among others financial institutions and the media.

Principles for equal treatment of users in releasing statistics and analyses

No external users have access to the statistics and analyses before they are published and accessible simultaneously for all users on www.ssb.no at 8 am. Prior to this, a minimum of three months' advance notice is given in the Statistics Release Calendar.

The main variables for bankruptcies are: code for municipality and industry, legal forms, number of employees, turnover and amount of share capital. The statistics is linked to the Business Register, the Central Coordinating Register for Legal Entities and the VAT Register. This includes both personal bankrupties (including sole proprietorships) and bankruptcies related to enterprises (exclusive sole proprietorships).

Statistics Act Section 3-2

The statistics includes all bankruptcies in Norway. Information on bankruptcy proceedings is mainly based on information that probate registries and administrators in bankruptcies report to the Register of Bankruptcies. Personal bankruptcies contain bankruptcy proceedings for sole proprietorships and employees. If the debtor is not registered in the Enterprise Register in Brønnøysund, or is a sole proprietorship, the debtor will be classified as en employee. Bankruptcies related to enterprises (exclusive sole proprietorships) are obliged to be registered in the Enterprise register in Brønnøysund.

The data is based on information from the Register of Bankruptcies.

The Register of Bankruptcies transfers a file with bankruptcies to Statistics Norway on the 17th of each month.

Statistics Norway assumes that information on bankruptcies from the Register of Bankruptcies is correct.

If the number of bankruptcies is 3 or less, figures on turnover are not published.

Serial data on bankruptcies is available from 1920, and for some industries from 1929. Data on bankruptcies from 1981 exists in a database. In StatBank, bankruptcy statistics from the 1st quarter of 1999 is presented, as well as total yearly numbers on bankruptcies from 1980.

Statistics Norway assumes that information on bankruptcies transferred by the Register of Bankruptcies is correct.