The largest number of companies in Spain for 27 years stopped trading in 2022

THE state of the economy after the Ukrainian war and the post-pandemic period contributed to the highest number of Spanish companies closing in 2022 for 27 years.

The National Institute of Statistics (INE) reported this Friday that 26,207 firms closed their doors last year, 10.1% more than in 2021, and the highest number since 1995.

Most of the dissolutions were voluntary with 2,997 companies disappearing due to mergers and 2,494 for other reasons.

Trade and construction companies suffered the most, according to the INE.

The highest closures were in Madrid (8,842), Andalucía (3,988) and Valencia (2,177), while at the other end of the scale, Navarra saw just 91 dissolutions.

On a positive note, the creation of new companies last year was led by commerce, which accounted for 19.5% of the total, followed by real estate, finance and insurance, with 16.9%.

As for closures, Madrid led the creative bets with 22,834 new registered companies, followed by Catalonia with 18,977 and Andalusia with 17,188.

The figures for December from the INE show that 8,258 companies were created, 1.6% less than in the same month of the previous year.