HOW MANY
PEOPLE FILE BANKRUPTCY?
Historically,
over the past 29
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
|
| 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 |
28,983,906
|
1,588,180 |
27,395,726 |
|
| AVERAGE |
999,445 |
54,765 |
944,680 |
|
From 1980 through 2009, an average of 994,680 personal bankruptcies were filed. But does that mean that an average of 944,680 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 1,246,978 individual persons.
944,680 x 1.32 (to account for joint filers) = 1,246,978 individuals per year average
Therefore, over
the past 29 years,
an average of more than one million people per year have filed for personal bankruptcy debt relief and protection.
Copyright
2009, 2010
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|