The post-health crisis catch-up phenomenon is “widely consumed”, except for microenterprises, according to the Banque de France.
The Banque de France published its annual analysis on Friday on the evolution of business failures. In 2025, “68,602 failures were recorded, an increase of 3.6% over one year”. This figure marks a slowdown compared to previous years, after increases of 17.7% in 2024, 36.5% in 2023 and almost 50% in 2022.
This level remains 15% higher than the 2010-2019 average and exceeds those of the 2008 financial crisis or the sovereign debt crisis (2010-12), notes the central bank.
Post-Covid catch-up is running out of steam, except for microenterprises
During the Covid crisis, many bankruptcies were avoided thanks to public aid, with the Banque de France estimating their number at 53,000 between 2020 and 2022. This catch-up effect is now “largely consumed”, except for microenterprises, which represent 92% of the failures recorded in 2025, and for which the catch-up remains incomplete. For other categories (VSEs, SMEs, ETIs and large companies), “the surplus of failures recorded since 2023 exceeds the deficit observed during the health crisis”, notes the study.
The Banque de France estimates that the increase in business insolvencies has eased in 2025 but their level remains high, a sign that the difficulties are now linked less to the sole impact of the Covid crisis than to deeper economic factors. For all these categories, “other factors, cyclical and structural, are at work”, explained to AFP Emilie Quema, director of Enterprises at the Banque de France.
“The difficulties observed in 2025 further reflect the impact of the successive shocks suffered since the health crisis, which have weakened certain companies through their debt, losses in turnover and an increased need to reconstitute margins and cash flow,” added Ms. Quema.
The median debt rate of failing companies increased from 25% in 2019 to 31% in 2025. The Banque de France also explains the increase in failures by the increase in business creations: 1.2 million were registered in 2025, a dynamism which “helps to fuel” these failures, she notes.
Emilie Quema emphasizes that there are nuances depending on the sector: in services, the failure rate is lower.
At the end of May 2026, the latest statistics published, the Banque de France recorded 70,077 insolvencies over twelve months.
