Bankruptcies in Finland hit a 30-year high in 2025, marking the most severe wave of business failures since the mid-1990s economic crisis. New figures from Statistics Finland show that the rise has now continued for three consecutive years, cutting across almost every sector of the economy.
Just over 3,900 companies filed for bankruptcy last year. This is the highest annual total recorded since 1996, when Finland was still dealing with the aftershocks of a prolonged recession. The scale of the increase highlights mounting pressure on businesses as costs rise, demand weakens, and financing conditions tighten.
The bankrupt firms employed an estimated 14,300 people, underlining the broader labor market impact of the trend.
The pace of bankruptcies accelerated toward the end of the year. Statistics Finland reported that 360 bankruptcy proceedings were initiated in December 2025 alone. That figure is 92 higher than in December the previous year, representing a 34 percent increase year on year.
Officials say the current surge did not emerge overnight. Instead, it reflects a sustained shift that began earlier in the decade.
Since 2023, an average of around 3,600 companies have entered bankruptcy proceedings each year. By comparison, the yearly average during the 2010s stood at roughly 2,700 companies, showing how sharply the situation has deteriorated.
According to Statistics Finland senior statistician Mira Kuussaari, the latest annual total stands out even when viewed against recent history.
She noted that bankruptcy numbers have exceeded last year’s level only three times since the early 2000s. Those years were 2009 during the global financial crisis, 2013, and 2023, which marked the beginning of the current upward trend.
Despite the high overall figures, Kuussaari said the employment data suggests that small and medium-sized enterprises are bearing the brunt of the collapse.
On average, companies entering bankruptcy are employing fewer workers than in past crisis periods, indicating that large-scale corporate failures remain relatively limited.
Data from Statistics Finland shows that the construction sector recorded the largest number of bankruptcies, with 768 firms filing during the year.
However, Kuussaari pointed out that bankruptcies in construction peaked earlier, in 2023. Since then, the situation in that sector has shown signs of stabilizing.
“In practically all other sectors, the trend has been upward,” she said in a press release.
This suggests that while construction led the downturn initially, financial stress has since spread more broadly across the Finnish economy, affecting services, retail, and other industries.
The prolonged increase in bankruptcies points to deeper structural challenges rather than a short-term shock. Higher interest rates, weaker consumer confidence, and slower economic growth are making it harder for companies to stay afloat, particularly smaller firms with limited buffers.
If the trend continues, analysts warn that business closures could further dampen employment growth and slow Finland’s economic recovery in the coming years.
Understanding bankruptcies in Finland requires looking beyond the headline numbers. While the total count is historically high, the dominance of SMEs among failed firms shows that vulnerability remains concentrated at the smaller end of the business landscape. How quickly conditions ease will depend largely on financing access, cost pressures, and overall economic momentum.
