Checked Barometer
The Checked Barometer counts the bankruptcies, incorporations, reorganisations and dissolutions every month, by region and by sector. Every edition can be cited and stays frozen from the day it appears.
1,149 bankruptcies in October 2026265,508 bankruptcies since June 199734 editions since January 2024 14-11-2026 updated
Edition of May 2026
compiled on 05-11-2026, after the regular publication date (06-06-2026) · 959 bankruptcies and 9,479 incorporationsFigures by region
| Area | Bankruptcies | Incorporations | Reorganisations | Dissolutions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flanders | 508+9.7% | 4,564+6.1% | 13-24% | 95-62% |
| Wallonia | 191+2.1% | 2,522+36% | 26+73% | 78-25% |
| Brussels | 260+2.8% | 1,846+10% | 18+29% | 257+27% |
| No known area | 0 | 547-23% | 0 | 0 |
| Belgium | 959+6.2% | 9,479+11% | 57+24% | 430-23% |
A bankruptcy counts in the region of its court. The Brussels courts also serve Halle-Vilvoorde, which therefore counts with Brussels. An incorporation counts in the region of the registered office, for a sole trader in that of the first establishment.
Bankruptcies by sector
- Construction ≥ 167142
- Accommodation and food service ≥ 11994
- Wholesale and retail trade ≥ 11681
- Transport and storage ≥ 6135
- Administrative and support services ≥ 4532
- Professional and technical services ≥ 4432
- Other services ≥ 3924
- Manufacturing ≥ 3822
- Real estate ≥ 198
- Telecoms and IT ≥ 1811
Show 9 more
In grey: May 2025. The sector is known for 74% of the cases of May 2026 (245 without a sector). No change per sector is therefore computed.
Notable sectors
For bankruptcies, the sector is known for 74% of this month's cases, against 56% in May 2025. A comparison per sector would therefore not be meaningful.
For incorporations, the sector is known for 78% of this month's cases, against 75% in May 2025. A comparison per sector would therefore not be meaningful.
Incorporations by sector
- Professional and technical services ≥ 1,3071,184
- Construction ≥ 938927
- Wholesale and retail trade ≥ 902709
- Administrative and support services ≥ 681577
- Other services ≥ 631522
- Accommodation and food service ≥ 453382
- Telecoms and IT ≥ 451321
- Transport and storage ≥ 349247
Show 14 more
- Arts, sports and recreation ≥ 318310
- Health and social work ≥ 280276
- Manufacturing ≥ 272229
- Education ≥ 238233
- Real estate ≥ 203174
- Publishing and media ≥ 11281
- Agriculture, forestry and fishing ≥ 8291
- Finance and insurance ≥ 7292
- Households ≥ 5235
- Energy ≥ 1816
- Water and waste ≥ 144
- Mining and quarrying ≥ 21
- Public administration ≥ 01
- Extraterritorial organisations ≥ 01
In grey: May 2025. The sector is known for 78% of the cases of May 2026 (2,104 without a sector). No change per sector is therefore computed.
Insights from May 2026
In May 2026, the Belgian Official Gazette published 959 bankruptcies, 6.2% more than in May 2025.
In May 2026, 9,479 companies were incorporated, 11% more than in May 2025.
In May 2026, the Belgian Official Gazette published 57 judicial reorganisations, 24% more than in May 2025.
In May 2026, the Belgian Official Gazette published 430 judicial dissolutions, 23% fewer than in May 2025.
9 more sentences
That is 16% fewer than in April 2026 (1,147).
Over the twelve months from June 2025 to May 2026 there were 12,340, 7.6% more than the twelve months before.
In May 2026 there were 508 bankruptcies in Flanders, 191 in Wallonia and 260 in Brussels and Halle-Vilvoorde.
That is 46% fewer than in April 2026 (17,434).
Over the twelve months from June 2025 to May 2026 there were 148,572, 19% more than the twelve months before.
That is 17% fewer than in April 2026 (69).
Over the twelve months from June 2025 to May 2026 there were 636, 19% more than the twelve months before.
That is 39% more than in April 2026 (309).
Over the twelve months from June 2025 to May 2026 there were 4,573, 16% fewer than the twelve months before.
Citation
Checked.be, Checked Barometer May 2026 (edition of 5 November 2026), https://checked.be/en/barometer/2026-05
Embed in an article
Put the key figures of May 2026 in your article about companies in Belgium: incorporations, bankruptcies, reorganisations and dissolutions, with the change on a year earlier.
- An edition's figures are frozen. What your readers see no longer changes.
- It barely adds weight to your page: one small script and one data request, also answered from a cache. There are no cookies and no tracking.
- Where scripts do not run (a newsletter, a feed reader) a plain link remains.
The barometer in your inbox
You get one email a month, on the day a new edition appears (the 6th). It holds the key figures, the quotable sentences and the link to the edition. No account is needed.
You first get an email to confirm. Without confirmation we send nothing and delete the address after 7 days. We keep only your email address and language, for this email and nothing else. We use no tracking. You unsubscribe with one click at the bottom of every email. Privacy statement
Next steps
Method and sources
- An edition appears on the 6th of the next month, so the last days of the month are processed. After that the figures are fixed. Data that arrives later is listed under Revisions.
- Incorporations: companies per month of their start date in the KBO register, sole traders included.
- Companies still appear in the KBO weeks after their start date. A month's incorporations are therefore complete only two months after that month ends. Until then they carry no comparison.
- Bankruptcies, judicial reorganisations (opening) and judicial dissolutions count in the month of their publication in the Belgian Official Gazette, not in that of the judgment.
- In July and August, the judicial recess, the courts sit little. The three court figures are therefore not compared with either of those months, only with the same month a year earlier.
- The sector is the company's main activity (NACE 2025) in the KBO. The sign "≥" before a figure means that the sector of part of the cases is unknown. A comparison per sector is made only when the sector is equally well known in both months.
- The figure per 10,000 active companies sets the month's figure against the sector's active companies shortly after that month.
Every month since 2019 in the trends explorer
Definitions
All figures cover the same twelve months, November 2025 to October 2026, and were counted on 14 November 2026. The same definitions apply on every Checked market page.
- Incorporations in 12 months
- 153,469
- Enterprises with a KBO start date in those twelve months, sole traders included, even if they have stopped since.
- Bankruptcies in 12 months
- 12,147
- Declared bankruptcies the Belgian Official Gazette published in those twelve months, including those of natural persons without an enterprise number.
- Active companies
- 1,976,894
- Enterprises active in the KBO on 14 November 2026, sole traders included.
On this page
An edition's figures are fixed on the day it appears, so a quotation stays right. The edition of May 2026 has been fixed since 5 November 2026. The difference with today's count over the same twelve months is registrations and judgments that came in later.
| In the edition | 148,572 |
|---|---|
| came in or were struck off later, net | +7 |
| Counted today | 148,579 |
| In the edition | 12,340 |
|---|---|
| came in or were struck off later, net | 0 |
| Counted today | 12,340 |