Highlights
Annual Insolvency Rates — 2009

Consumer Insolvency Rates

The number of consumer insolvencies per thousand residents aged 18 years and above increased steadily between 1987 and 1997.  While the rate had remained relatively stable from 1998 to 2007, it rose to 4.4 in 2008 from 3.9 in 2007, and in 2009, during the economic downturn, it climbed to 5.8.

In 2009, the consumer bankruptcy rate increased by 1.1 and consumer proposal rate increased by 0.4.  Alberta and Ontario saw the largest increase in the consumer insolvency rate over that of 2008, at +1.7 and +1.6 respectively.  These were above the national average, which was +1.4.

Business Insolvency Rates

The number of business insolvencies per thousand businesses in Canada dropped steadily from a high of 8.1 in 1998 to 2.9 in 2009, despite the recent recession. The decrease was mainly due to a fall in the volume of business bankruptcies: of the 5.2 point fall in the business insolvency rate from 1998 to 2009, the vast majority (-4.8) was attributed to a decrease in the number of bankruptcies.  The rest was made up by a relatively small drop in business proposals (-0.4).

Nationally, the business insolvency rate fell to 2.9 in 2009 from 3.1 in 2008 (-0.2).   

During the same period, the Transportation and Warehousing sector reported the largest decrease (-1.2) in the business insolvency rate.  The Utilities sector saw the most increase (+5.4).

Read the report Annual Insolvency Rates.