Germany’s corporate insolvency crisis is no longer a story about a few struggling sectors or poorly managed firms. It has become a broad-based economic phenomenon touching construction sites, factories, retailers, restaurants and service providers across the country.
Fresh data from the Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH) shows that nearly 5,000 companies filed for insolvency in the second quarter of 2026, the highest quarterly figure in more than two decades. The trend is not an isolated spike but the latest stage of a prolonged deterioration that has unfolded over several years. Behind the surge lies a combination of high energy costs, industrial decline, weak demand, demographic pressures and mounting concerns that Europe’s largest economy is losing competitiveness.
