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Tide turns for Swedish bankruptcies: report

The number of Swedish firms filing for bankruptcy declined by 14 percent in January in comparison with the corresponding month in 2009. 484 companies went to the wall during the month.

Published: 8 February 2010 08:42 CET

Tide turns for Swedish bankruptcies: report

Image: Ilker

It is primarily in Stockholm and Skåne, and within the retail sector, that bankruptcies have eased off, the new statistics from credit rating firm UC show.

“The improved situation for retail in comparison with a year ago clearly shines through in the statistics, especially in the big city areas,” said Roland Sigbladh at UC in a statement.

The retail sector expressed confidence in the future as consumption remains high with demand continuing to increase, the report shows.

Sweden fares well in a comparison with Scandinavian neighbours Norway, and especially Denmark, which experienced a 52 percent increase in 2009. Denmark’s bankruptcy levels are now close to the Swedish levels despite having a far smaller business sector.

The Scandinavian average came in at an increase of 34 percent in 2009.

“Bankruptcies in Sweden have in recent years been modest in a Nordic perspective. In the other countries, bankruptcies have increased by between 65 and 195 percent since 2006, but the equivalent figure for Sweden is only 25 percent,” Sigbladh said.

“The statistics covering business failures in 2009 show that Swedish companies have survived the financial crisis relatively well,” he concludes.

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Spain is the fourth EU country with the highest inherited poverty

Spain is EU country with most middle-class young people who end up poor. Photo: Jaime ALEKOS / AFP

Spain is also the fourth EU country with the highest rate of inherited poverty risk, according to Eurostat, the EU Statistical Office.

Data on intergenerational poverty indicates that there is a correlation between the financial situation of the household you grew up in and the risk of being poor when you reach adulthood and in Spain, there is a strong link.

The latest statistics available from 2019 show that the at-risk-of-poverty rate for the EU was 23 percent among adults aged 25 to 59 who grew up in a poor financial situation at home when they were 14 years old. This is 9.6 percentage points more than those who come from families without financial problems (13.4 percent).

READ ALSO: Spain’s inflation soars to 29-year high

How the situation in Spain compares with the EU

Spain has become the EU country with the highest risk of poverty among adults who grew up in families with a good financial situation – 16.6 percent.

This was followed by Latvia with 16 percent and Italy with 15.9 percent.

That statistics also show the countries where it is less likely to be poor after growing up in households without economic difficulties. These include the Czech Republic (5.9 percent), Slovakia (7.9 percent) and Finland (8.5 percent).

The overall poverty rate in the EU decreased by 0.1 percentage points between 2011 (13.5 percent) and 2019 (13.4 percent), but the largest increases were seen in Denmark (1.9 points more), Portugal (1.8 points), the Netherlands (1.7 points) and Spain (1.2 points).

On the other hand, the biggest decreases in the poverty rate were seen in Croatia (-4 percent), Lithuania (-3.6 percent), Slovakia (-3.5 percent) and Ireland (-3.2 percent).

READ ALSO: Spain’s government feels heat as economic recovery lags

Inherited poverty

The stats revealed that Spain was also the fourth country with the highest rate of inherited poverty risk (30 percent), only behind Bulgaria (40.1 percent), Romania (32.7 percent) and Italy (30.7 percent).

This means that children of poor parents in Spain are also likely to be poor in adulthood.

The countries with the lowest rate of inherited poverty risk were the Czech Republic (10.2 percent), Denmark (10.3 percent) and Finland (10.5 percent).

The average risk-of-poverty rate for the EU increased by 2.5 percentage points between 2011 (20.5 percent) and 2019 (23 percent), with the largest increases seen in Bulgaria (6 points more), Slovakia and Romania (4.3 points), Italy (4.2 points) and Spain (4.1 points).

The biggest drops were seen in Latvia (-8.5 points), Estonia (-8.0 points) and Croatia (-2.3 points).

The largest gaps in people at risk of poverty when they reach adulthood were in Bulgaria (27.6 percentage points more among those who belong to families with a poor economic situation as teenagers compared to those who grew up in wealthy households), Romania (17.1), Italy (14.8), Greece (13.5) and Spain (13.4).

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