Comparing the third quarter of 2021 with the second quarter of 2021, among Member States for which data are available, the largest increases in the registrations of new businesses were observed in Romania (+10.9 %), the Netherlands (+7.4 %) and Portugal (+4.2 %). The largest decreases were observed in Ireland (-63.7 %), Lithuania (-17.4 %) and Latvia (-7.2 %) .
Comparing the third quarter of 2021 with the second quarter of 2021, among Member States for which data are available, the largest decreases in the number of declarations of bankruptcies were found in Estonia (-31.6 %), Portugal (-12.9 %) and the Netherlands (-12.7 %). The highest increases in bankruptcy declarations were observed in Romania (+25.2 %), Lithuania (+16.4 %) and Slovakia (+12.3 %). For Latvia the figure was -0.3 %.
In the third quarter of 2021, the number of registrations of businesses across the EU was 5% higher than in the same period in 2019, prior to the COVID-19 crisis, while the number of declarations of bankruptcies decreased by 26% over the same period.
All sectors of the economy (industry, construction, market services) experienced a moderate decrease in the number of registrations of new businesses in the third quarter of 2021. Nevertheless, the numbers remained considerably above the pre-COVID-19 levels (Q4 2019) for transport, information and communication sectors.
While the number of bankruptcy declarations increased in construction as well as finance and insurance in the third quarter of 2021, it continued to decrease in transport, accommodation and food services, trade as well as information and communication.
