Bankruptcies, Q1 2002

The last years strong increase of bankruptcies within the ICT-industry differs from the development of the total number of bankruptcies, when comparing with numbers from 2000. The total number of bankruptcies in 2001 went down compared with 2000, while bankruptcies within the ICT-industry rose by 45 per cent. There have been 49 bankruptcies within the ICT-industry in 2002, two less than at the same period last year. The total number of bankruptcies was 978 during the three first months of 2002, a reduction by 67 bankruptcies from the corresponding period in 2001.

Large increase in the west

The west coast of Norway had the three counties with the largest percentile increase of bankruptcies compared with the first quarter 2001, when numbers of bankruptcies in Sogn og Fjordane, Møre og Romsdal and Rogaland jumped up by 38, 33 and 30 per cent respectively. The county with most bankruptcies was Oslo, by 212 bankruptcies. Of the 19 counties in Norway, 11 had fewer bankruptcies this year than compared with last year. The largest drop in bankruptcies had Hedmark by 43 per cent to 29 bankruptcies.

Fewer personal bankruptcies

The number of personal bankruptcies covering self-employed persons and wage earners has had a strong decline. The number of personal bankruptcies during the first quarter of 2001 totalled at 474, while it dropped to 327 this year, a reduction by 31 per cent. The share of the total number of bankruptcies fell from 45 per cent in the first quarter of 2001 to 33 per cent during the three first months of 2002. The industry for real estate, renting and business activities had relatively the largest increase of bankruptcies during the first quarter of 2002, from 86 bankruptcies in 2001 to 111 this year.

The statistics are published quarterly.

Tables:

• Table 1 Bankruptcy proceedings, by quarter and county. 2001-1st quarter 2002
• Table 2 Monthly bankruptcy proceedings. 1994 - first quarter 20021
• Table 3 Bankruptcy proceedings by industry. 1. quarter 2001 and 2002