Between Boom and Bust: A City-by-City Analysis of Business Insolvencies in Germany
How resilient is Germany as a business location? Our latest analysis reveals that between 2023 and 2025, Germany’s 20 largest cities recorded 125,138 new business registrations and 13,197 corporate insolvencies. Location also plays a significant role, with insolvency ratios varying considerably from city to city. While Wuppertal recorded an insolvency ratio of 28.2 percent relative to new business registrations during the period under review, Leipzig’s figure was just 3.0 percent.
Insolvency Ratios: Wuppertal and Bielefeld Face the Highest Business Risks
Comparing the number of insolvencies with new business registrations reveals a more nuanced picture of economic stability. The insolvency ratio calculated in our analysis indicates the number of corporate insolvencies recorded in a city relative to new business registrations. The higher the ratio, the greater the number of insolvencies compared with newly registered businesses.
Between 2023 and 2025, Wuppertal (28.2 percent), Bielefeld (20.6 percent) and Münster (18.6 percent) recorded the highest ratios. These cities experienced a disproportionately high number of corporate insolvencies relative to new business activity.
Leipzig (3.0 percent) and Dresden (3.4 percent), by contrast, demonstrated greater stability. Despite high numbers of new business registrations, both cities in Saxony recorded comparatively few insolvencies, making them the most stable business locations among the cities examined. Bremen (8.4 percent) also remained well below the overall average insolvency ratio of 10.5 percent.
“The differences between cities warrant closer examination. Leipzig and Dresden consistently recorded low ratios across all three years. However, this does not mean that businesses established in these cities automatically have a better chance of success. Our analysis compares corporate insolvencies with new business registrations; it does not track the same companies over time. Anyone using these figures to inform economic decisions must therefore understand both what they measure and the limits of the conclusions that can be drawn from them,” explains Sara Ramzani, Vice President for Academic Affairs at Gisma University of Applied Sciences.
Year-on-Year Comparison: High-Risk Cities Remain Consistently Elevated as Overall Insolvency Ratio Improves in 2025
A closer look at the individual years shows that the cities with the highest insolvency ratios consistently maintained their positions. Wuppertal recorded by far the highest ratio in all three years (27.0 percent in 2023, 35.0 percent in 2024 and 25.2 percent in 2025), followed by Bielefeld (23.6 / 28.0 / 14.6 percent) and Münster (13.1 / 23.6 / 19.8 percent). Although the figures fluctuated from year to year, they point to persistently higher insolvency levels relative to new business registrations in these cities.
At the other end of the spectrum, Dresden and Leipzig remained the most stable locations throughout all three years. Both consistently recorded ratios below 4.1 percent, well below the overall average. Despite the slight improvement in 2025, the ratio of insolvencies to new business registrations increased over the entire period under review in Bochum, Dortmund, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Stuttgart and Bremen. The most pronounced increases were recorded in Dortmund (from 11.8 to 15.9 percent) and Stuttgart (from 8.2 to 14.8 percent).
Across the cities analysed, the situation improved slightly in 2025. The overall insolvency ratio initially rose from 9.47 percent in 2023 to 11.53 percent in 2024, before declining to 10.63 percent in 2025. The underlying absolute figures reveal contrasting trends: corporate insolvencies increased from 3,861 in 2023 to 4,689 in 2024 (+21.4 percent), before falling slightly to 4,647 proceedings in 2025 (-0.9 percent).
At the same time, new business registrations picked up noticeably in 2025. Following 40,774 registrations in 2023 and 40,654 in 2024, a total of 43,710 businesses were registered in 2025, representing an increase of 7.5 percent compared with the previous year.
“A good business idea alone is no guarantee of financial viability. Entrepreneurs need to understand how costs, demand and payment terms affect their liquidity. Financial literacy means identifying risks early and making informed decisions before the scope for action becomes more limited. As a university, we see it as our responsibility to prepare students to critically assess data and translate this knowledge into responsible entrepreneurial decision-making,” says Sara Ramzani, Vice President for Academic Affairs at Gisma University of Applied Sciences.
Absolute Figures: Berlin, Hamburg and Munich Record the Most Insolvencies
In absolute terms, Berlin recorded the highest number of corporate insolvency proceedings over the three-year period, with 3,782 cases, followed by Hamburg (1,890) and Munich (970). Cologne ranked fourth with 847 registered insolvencies, followed by Düsseldorf (767).
Berlin also leads Germany in new business registrations. With 30,026 new registrations between 2023 and 2025, the capital accounted for almost a quarter of all new businesses registered across the cities analysed. Its high absolute number of insolvencies therefore needs to be viewed in the context of its strong start-up activity, resulting in an insolvency ratio of 12.6 percent.
The fewest insolvency proceedings were recorded in Bonn (198), Duisburg (211) and Münster (218).
About the Study
The analysis covers Germany’s 20 largest cities and examines new business registrations and opened corporate insolvency proceedings between 2023 and 2025. The data was primarily obtained from Germany’s Regional Database (Regionaldatenbank Deutschland), particularly the tables “Business Registrations” (Gewerbeanmeldungen, 52311-01-04-4) and “Insolvency Proceedings – Enterprises” (Insolvenzverfahren – Unternehmen, 52411-02-01-4). Consumer insolvency proceedings involving private individuals acting outside a business capacity were excluded from the analysis. For Saxony, all data was sourced from the state’s own GENESIS database. Additional missing data, particularly for 2025, was researched using the German Company Register (Unternehmensregister, unternehmensregister.de) and the official insolvency announcements portal (Insolvenzbekanntmachungen, neu.insolvenzbekanntmachungen.de). Consistent categories and statistical tables were used for all cities to ensure comparability. Finally, the number of new business registrations was compared with the number of corporate insolvencies in each city to calculate a comparable insolvency ratio.