Insolvency Radar

How insolvency in Spain has changed

Seven years of declared insolvencies, who they involve, and how long the proceedings really take.

Source: Public Insolvency Register. Unique cases with a declaration order. Data as of 2026-08-24

61,770
insolvencies declared in 2025
91.2%
involve individuals
112
days median duration
5,439
companies in 2025

Insolvency stopped being a company matter

In 2019 companies accounted for six of every ten declared insolvencies. In 2025 they account for fewer than one in ten. The procedure has not grown evenly: what has grown is personal insolvency.

0 15,443 30,885 46,328 61,770 2019202020212022202320242025
Companies 8.8% Sole traders 10.3% Individuals 80.9%

The 2023 step coincides with the reform brought by Law 16/2022 and the special micro-enterprise procedure. Sole traders go from 81 cases in 2022 to 3,766 in 2023: the reform did not create the insolvency, it opened a door to it.

Declared insolvencies by year and type of debtor
Year CompaniesSole tradersIndividuals Total
2019 2,10421,511 3,617
2020 2,05972,610 4,676
2021 2,543325,352 7,927
2022 2,729818,348 11,158
2023 4,1143,76622,712 30,592
2024 4,3014,94031,001 40,242
2025 5,4396,37749,954 61,770

Seven in ten insolvencies close in under six months

The belief that insolvency takes years describes a minority. The median is 112 days, well below the 252-day mean, and the distance between the two is what tells the real story.

  • Under 3 months 34,182 36.1%
  • 3 to 6 months 34,060 35.9%
  • 6 to 12 months 15,204 16%
  • 1 to 2 years 6,488 6.8%
  • 2 to 3 years 2,673 2.8%
  • Over 3 years 2,192 2.3%
Proceedings with both a declaration and a conclusion order found: 94,799

The reason is the no-asset insolvency of art. 37 bis TRLC, opened and closed almost at once when there is nothing to distribute. The long tail, the 5% beyond two years, is where trading businesses sit, with assets to realise and culpability to argue.

How this was calculated

Every figure here can be reproduced. These are the counting decisions and their limits.

  • The unit is the insolvency, not the publication. One procedure generates several edicts over its life, so they are grouped by debtor and case number, counting those with a declaration order.
  • The type of debtor comes from the format of the tax identifier. Telling a sole trader from a private individual is inferred from whether the register carries an economic activity, and it is an estimate: it overstates the sole-trader group against the official statistic.
  • 2024 checked against the Colegio de Registradores insolvency statistic: 40,242 insolvencies here against roughly 41,000 official ones, 98% coverage. The split by type deviates, which is why the total is published with more confidence than the breakdown.
  • The series runs to the end of 2025. The current year is withheld until the enrichment of the recovered proceedings finishes, so that a half-filled period is not shown as if it were real.
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