Analysis and Studies - Studies
CRIF AG Study: record of new businesses and slightly fewer bankruptcies in Switzerland
January 11th 2024
51,637 new companies were founded in 2023. That’s more than ever before, and bankruptcy openings have fallen slightly, but not in all industries. In gastronomy, construction and retail bankruptcies have increased compared to the previous year.
Record number of companies founded
51,637 companies were founded in Switzerland in 2023. This corresponds to a year-on-year increase of 3.2 percent. In the same period, 30,790 companies were deleted from the commercial register. This is 7.7 percent less than in the previous year, with net growth of 20,847 companies.
Most new entries were made in the cantons of Zurich (9,507), Vaud (5,024) and Bern (4’259). Start-ups in the cantons of Geneva (-1.4%), Ticino (-1.2%) and Valais have declined (-0.4%).
Looking at the individual sectors, the retail trade (4,911) shows the most frequent start-ups, followed by management consulting (4,100) and construction (3,852).
In Switzerland as a whole, bankruptcies decreased by 0.7 percent in 2023 compared to the previous year. However, bankruptcies have increased in the catering industry (+10.6%), in the retail trade (+7%) and the construction industry (+6.8%). The construction industry recorded the most bankruptcy openings (1,310), followed by gastronomy (863), retail (609), and wholesale (580).
The canton of Zurich (1513) has the highest number of bankruptcies, followed by the canton of Vaud (852) and the canton of Geneva (697). Bankruptcies in Ticino have fallen sharply (-20.6%).
Methodology
Analyzed all companies, in the period from 1 January to 31 2023. Newly entered in the commercial register until December 2023, companies with which bankruptcy proceedings have been opened and all companies, which were deleted in the commercial register during this time. For example, a company is deleted when it is dissolved ex officio, when the bankruptcy proceedings are terminated, at the end of the liquidity period, in the case of mergers or Company tasks due to lack of succession planning.