French corporate insolvencies rise 3.6 percent to 68,602 in 2025

French business insolvencies totaled 68,602 in 2025, an increase of 3.6 percent compared with 17.7 percent in 2024 and 36.5 percent in 2023.

While the overall volume sits 15 percent above the 2010-2019 average of 59,342, disparities across enterprise sizes are stark.

Insolvencies among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and intermediate-sized firms exceeded their pre-pandemic baseline by 68 percent, compared to a 12 percent rise for microenterprises, which account for 92 percent of all filings.

Defaulting firms in 2025 display weaker balance sheets, with median financial debt reaching 31.2 percent of total assets, up from 25.0 percent in 2019, alongside a median turnover contraction of 7.0 percent.

The post-pandemic catch-up has largely concluded for non-microenterprises, having offset the 53,395 defaults avoided between 2020 and 2022 with a cumulative surplus of 37,659 cases through 2025.

Structural business demographics also influence bankruptcy totals: incorporated business registrations have expanded by an average of 5.6 percent annually since 2016.

Econometric modeling reveals that a 1 percentage point increase in business creation raises insolvency rates by 0.15 percentage points four years later, though shifts toward low-risk services partially temper overall default rates.