Survival tables
Every company founded since 2010 counts, whether it is still going, went bankrupt, was dissolved, absorbed or struck off. The figures are by region, province or municipality, by legal form and by founding year.
Of the companies founded since 2010 in Belgium (554,993 companies), 83.9% are still going after 5 years. In addition, 8.1% went bankrupt and 7.7% stopped without bankruptcy (dissolution, merger, strike-off or otherwise).
After 1 year
99.3%
still going · 0.2% bankrupt
After 3 years
93.0%
still going · 3.5% bankrupt
After 5 years
83.9%
still going · 8.1% bankrupt
After 10 years
68.0%
still going · 14.3% bankrupt
The companies founded since 2010 in Belgium
These are 554,993 companies, followed from their founding.
To quote
- Of the companies founded since 2010 in Belgium, 83.9% are still going after 5 years and 8.1% went bankrupt.
- After ten years, 68.0% are still going.
- Of those that stopped within 5 years, 51.3% went bankrupt and 45.3% were dissolved or liquidated.
Year by year
| After | Still going | Bankrupt | Dissolved | Merger | Struck off | Other | Uncertain | Measured on |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 year | 99.3% | 0.2% | 0.4% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.3% | 554,993 |
| 2 years | 96.9% | 1.4% | 1.4% | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.4% | 503,500 |
| 3 years | 93.0% | 3.5% | 3.1% | 0.2% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.5% | 453,138 |
| 4 years | 88.3% | 5.9% | 5.1% | 0.3% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.6% | 404,328 |
| 5 years | 83.9% | 8.1% | 7.1% | 0.5% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.6% | 356,128 |
| 6 years | 80.1% | 9.8% | 9.1% | 0.7% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.7% | 314,756 |
| 7 years | 76.6% | 11.3% | 10.9% | 0.9% | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.7% | 276,204 |
| 8 years | 73.4% | 12.4% | 12.6% | 1.1% | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.7% | 240,942 |
| 9 years | 70.6% | 13.4% | 14.3% | 1.3% | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.7% | 208,896 |
| 10 years | 68.0% | 14.3% | 15.9% | 1.5% | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.7% | 177,359 |
A year counts only once every company of that founding year has reached it (data up to 17 September 2026). Several founding years are combined year by year, on those still going the year before.
By founding year
Share still going, for the companies in Belgium.
| Founded in | Number | after 1 year | after 3 years | after 5 years | after 10 years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 51,493 | 99.5% | |||
| 2023 | 50,362 | 99.5% | |||
| 2022 | 48,810 | 99.5% | 93.6% | ||
| 2021 | 48,200 | 99.5% | 93.7% | ||
| 2020 | 41,372 | 99.5% | 94.1% | 84.6% | |
| 2019 | 38,552 | 99.4% | 94.4% | 85.4% | |
| 2018 | 35,262 | 99.2% | 94.2% | 85.6% | |
| 2017 | 32,046 | 99.1% | 92.5% | 84.6% | |
| 2016 | 31,537 | 99.1% | 92.3% | 84.0% | |
| 2015 | 29,206 | 98.9% | 92.1% | 82.8% | 67.3% |
| 2014 | 28,147 | 98.9% | 92.0% | 82.7% | 67.2% |
| 2013 | 26,208 | 98.8% | 91.3% | 81.5% | 65.5% |
| 2012 | 27,614 | 99.0% | 91.1% | 82.1% | 66.2% |
| 2011 | 33,375 | 99.2% | 92.0% | 82.8% | 68.0% |
| 2010 | 32,809 | 99.2% | 92.8% | 81.9 to 82.9% | 67.7% |
An empty cell means that the founding year has not reached that anniversary yet.
Method and limits of the figures
- Only companies, non-profits and foundations. They publish their founding and their end in the Belgian Official Gazette. Sole traders do not publish their end, so they are not counted.
- No curve from the KBO alone. The KBO open data holds only companies that are still registered. A company that stopped disappears from it. For 375,286 known legal entities, the KBO no longer holds any registration. Using the KBO alone therefore counts only survivors and always arrives at 100%.
- The founding deed as the starting point, from 2010. Every company publishes its founding in the Gazette, whether it survives or not. For every founding year since 2010, the founding deed of at least 99.2% of the companies is in those publications, against at most 39.5% for 2003 to 2009. Among the companies still registered, the founding deed is there for 99.7%. Among those that left the KBO since April 2026, it is 99.7%. Whether a company stopped later makes no difference to those publications.
- Identifying the founding deed. Enterprise numbers are handed out in order. A company's first act counts as its founding when it matches the start dates of the numbers just before and after it. In a test on companies with a start date in the KBO, 100.0% of the true foundings were recognised. Wrongly, 1.3% of later first acts were accepted as a founding.
- End and end date. A bankruptcy and a judicial dissolution count on the date of the judgment, a merger on the date of the deed and a strike-off on its own date. Otherwise the last act under the end rubric (dissolution or closure of the liquidation) counts. A company that left the KBO without such a publication counts as stopped otherwise. Its end then lies between its last sign of life and the day it left the KBO. The bankruptcies of June 1997 to April 2018 also count on the date of the judgment, from the Gazette's texts before RegSol. In a sample, 99% of those bankruptcies were found in those texts. As a result, fewer companies founded in 2010 to 2017 have an end without a fixed date.
- Ways of stopping. Stopping is not always failing. A voluntary dissolution can be a planned end, a merger a success. That is why each way of stopping is kept apart, and only a bankruptcy counts as a bankruptcy.
- No curve by sector. The KBO shows a company's activity only while it is registered. Of the 166,693 stopped companies in these tables, 133,244 no longer have a registration, and so no sector. By sector, mostly survivors would count. That is why there is no curve by sector.
- Place. The place is the municipality of the seat in the company's last act. It is the same for survivors and for companies that stopped.
Updated on 1 November 2026 from the Belgian Official Gazette, the KBO and the bankruptcy publications.