Information Releases

Japan’s Business Failures during April 2021 to March 2022

(Released by TEIKOKU DATABANK, LTD.)
The number of bankruptcies in the year fell below 6,000 for the first time in 56 years
The timing at which COVID-19 settles down from now will predict the future of small and medium-sized enterprises
There were 5,916 bankruptcies, the lowest level in 56 years since 1965.
Total liabilities came to 1,182,871 million yen, down for the fourth consecutive year.

Highlight and Outstanding Feature

• ■There were 5,916 bankruptcies in FY2021 (7,314 in the previous year, down 19.1%), marking the second-lowest level after 1965 (5,593), and the number of bankruptcies fell below 6,000 for the first time in half a century.
• ■Total liabilities came to 1,182,871 million yen in FY2021 (1,217,469 million yen in the previous year, down 2.8%), falling below the previous year for the fourth consecutive year and even lower than the previous year, which recorded the smallest figure since 2000.
• ■By industry, the number of bankruptcies decreased year-on-year in six industries excluding the transportation and telecommunications industry. The retail industry (to 1,287 bankruptcies from 1,760, down 26.9%) saw a significant decrease due to the injection of public funds and the support of financial institutions. On the other hand, the transportation and telecommunications industry (to 273 bankruptcies from 262, up 4.2%) was the only one to see an increase among the seven industries.
• ■In terms of primary cause, recession-induced bankruptcies numbered 4,574 (5,726 in the previous year), a significant decrease of 20.1% On the other hand, the number of bankruptcies due to "manager's illness or death" increased for the fourth consecutive year.
• ■By amount, the number of large-scale bankruptcies of companies with liabilities of 5 billion yen or more increased to 34 from 23 in the previous year. And while the total number of bankruptcies decreased significantly, relatively large-scale bankruptcies were conspicuous.
• ■By region, all regions experienced year-on-year declines for the second consecutive year. This was the first time in 17 years, since 2004, that the number of all regions saw a decrease for the second consecutive year. In addition, all regions recorded the lowest number in the last 20 years.
• ■By form, bankruptcies under the Civil Rehabilitation Act numbered 165 (260 in the previous year), falling below 200 bankruptcies and recording the lowest figure since the act was enforced.
• ■There were 114 bankruptcies caused by a labor shortage (down 5.0% year-on-year), marking the second consecutive year of year-on-year decrease.
• ■There were 476 bankruptcies caused by a difficulty in finding a successor (up 7.0% year-on-year), marking the first year-on-year increase in two years.
• ■There were 206 companies that experienced a “bankruptcy after a coronavirus loan,” (a government loan system for companies facing hardship due to COVID-19), and March 2022 saw the highest number of such bankruptcies, in the 30s, since the start of collecting data.