How Many People File for Bankruptcy Relief?

HOW MANY PEOPLE FILE BANKRUPTCY?

Historically, over the past 31 years, over 1 million people per year on average filed for bankruptcy protection in the United States.

Year	Totals Filings	Business Filings	Non-Business Filings	Consumer Filings as a Percentage of Total Filings
2010	1,593,081	56,282	1,536,099	96.42%
2009	1,473,675	60,837	1,412,838	95.87%
2008	1,117,771	43,546	1,074,225	96.10%
2007	850,912	28,322	822,590	96.67%
2006	617,660	19,695	597,965	96.81%
2005	2,078,415	39,201	2,039,214	98.11%
2004	1,597,462	34,317	1,563,145	97.85%
2003	1,660,245	35,037	1,625,208	97.89%
2002	1,577,651	38,540	1,539,111	97.56%
2001	1,492,129	40,099	1,452,030	97.31%
2000	1,253,444	35,472	1,217,972	97.17%
1999	1,319,465	37,884	1,281,581	97.12%
1998	1,442,549	44,367	1,398,182	96.92%
1997	1,404,145	54,027	1,350,118	96.15%
1996	1,178,555	53,549	1,125,006	95.46%
1995	926,601	51,959	874,642	94.39%
1994	832,829	52,374	780,455	93.71%
1993	875,202	62,304	812,898	92.88%
1992	971,517	70,643	900,874	92.73%
1991	943,987	71,549	872,438	92.42%
1990	782,960	64,853	718,107	91.72%
1989	679,461	63,235	616,226	90.69%
1988	613,465	63,853	549,612	89.59%
1987	577,999	82,446	495,553	85.74%
1986	530,438	81,235	449,203	84.69%
1985	412,510	71,277	341,233	82.72%
1984	348,521	64,004	284,517	81.64%
1983	348,880	62,436	286,444	82.10%
1982	380,251	69,300	310,951	81.78%
1981	363,943	48,125	315,818	86.78%
1980	331,264	43,694	287,570	86.81%
TOTALS	30,576,987	1,644,462	28,931,825
AVERAGE	986,354	53,047	933,328

From 1980 through 2010, an average of 933,328 personal bankruptcies were filed. But does that mean that an average of 933,328 people filed bankruptcy? No. The statistics treat joint filings, for example for husband and wife, as one bankruptcy. It is estimated that 32% of personal bankruptcies filed are joint filings of husband and wife. Therefore, to approximate the number of people filing bankruptcy, one must increase the filings by 32% to obtain a more realistic number of 1,231,993 individual persons.