Business liquidations in 2025: A numbers game with a slight dip
For the full 2025 year, 1,534 businesses shut their doors compared with 2,035 liquidations that were recorded in 2020.
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While business casualties are still high, the frontline is starting to stabilise, with the latest figures from Statistics South Africa showing a marginal reprieve in the number of companies going under.
According to preliminary data, total liquidations for the 2025 year saw a slight 1.1% decrease compared to 2024. For the full year, 1,534 businesses shut their doors permanently, down from 1,551 in 2020.
Looking much further ago, 2020 – when much of the country was shuttered to stop the spread of COVID-19, 2,035 liquidations were recorded.
The bulk, at 87%, of last year’s liquidations were voluntary.
Of the 1,534 total closures, 1,341 were decisions made by owners to wind up their affairs on their own terms, rather than waiting for a court-ordered gavel to swing. Only 193 entities were forced into compulsory liquidation.
The number of company liquidations saw a 1.8% drop year-on-year, while close corporations remained virtually flat with a tiny 0.3% dip.
However, closures for just December tell a different story, up 11.1% year, to 100 with liquidations of companies accounting for 25 entities.
On a quarterly basis, the number of liquidations decreased by 14.5% (from 414 to 354) in the fourth quarter of 2025 compared with the fourth quarter of 2024.
The sectors feeling the squeeze
The “financing, insurance, real estate, and business services” sector was the hardest hit, accounting for nearly a third of all failures last year with 503 liquidations.
It was followed by the “trade, catering, and accommodation” sector, which lost 298 businesses.
- Financing, insurance, real estate, business services: 503 liquidations
- Trade, catering and accommodation: 298 liquidations
- Community Services: 113 liquidations
In a rare bit of good news, the mining and quarrying sector, along with electricity, gas, and water recorded zero liquidations.
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