Personal insolvency

Personal bankruptcy

Incidence

In the former Federal Republic of Germany, there were 18,000 cases of insolvency in 1985 compared to 4,222 in 1970. Bankruptcy filings by individuals in the USA increased rapidly at the start of the 1980's, reaching by 1992 an estimated 900,000 filings per year (triple the number in 1984). A 1993 report, however, suggested a marked decline in US filings, as bankruptcies were down in January 1993 by 20% (February 1993 by 11%, and March 1993 by 7%) compared to the previous year.

Counter-claim

Insolvencies are part of the daily lot of any open market-economy system, where enterprises automatically take economic and financial risks which do not always pay off.