In the first quarter of 2025, the Chamber of Commerce (KVK) recorded the strongest increase in the number of establishments closing down (hereinafter referred to as ‘closing businesses’) in ten years. Together with a decrease in the number of establishments starting up (hereinafter referred to as ‘starters’), this means a decreasing growth in the number of establishments. On 31 March 2025, there were 2,578,878 establishments registered in the KVK Trade Register, which is still an increase of 1.4% compared to the first quarter of 2024.
Increase in quitters in all sectors
The number of people who stopped working in the past quarter was 60,964. In the same quarter of last year, this was 44,590. This represents an increase of 37%. The increase in the number of people who stopped working is strongest in the sectors Agriculture and horticulture (90%), Health (72%) and Construction (50%), but it is exceptional that the increase in the number of people who stopped working occurs in all sectors. Almost three quarters (73%) of people who stopped working are self-employed, but SMEs with employees also ceased to exist. The number of bankruptcies is falling for the first time in two and a half years, with 892 in Q1 2025 and 1,003 in Q1 2024.
Josette Dijkhuizen, entrepreneur and special professor at Tilburg University: “Entrepreneurs from various sectors are faced with, for example, high energy costs, uncertainty about (new) regulations and persistent tightness on the labor market. This may partly explain the large increase in the number of people who quit, in addition to the number of self-employed people who quit because they have retired or have switched to employment. If entrepreneurs quit while they basically have a healthy company, but are now no longer able to do business due to external circumstances, this is a negative development.”
Questions about quitting
Business advisors at KVK notice that there are many questions surrounding a business termination. “Stopping entrepreneurship is part of entrepreneurship. That does not mean it is easy. It is a difficult decision and a complex process, in which many entrepreneurs do not know what to do and when,” says Gé Gijsen, business advisor at KVK.
“Questions we receive from entrepreneurs who want to stop vary from administrative and tax matters to what should happen to the staff and what the possibilities are with current (rental) contracts. Many entrepreneurs also think that deregistering from the Chamber of Commerce is the only thing and start with that, but then you immediately no longer have access to, for example, a bank account. The sequence is therefore very important.”
Starters
The number of starters in the first quarter of 2025 was 60,448. At 17%, this is the strongest decline in the past 10 years. It is striking that the number of starters opting for the legal form of a Private Limited Company (BV) has increased by 25%. This may be related to the enforcement of false self-employment and the upcoming mandatory disability insurance for ZZP’ers.
“The number of starters is decreasing the most in the health, agriculture and horticulture and logistics sectors. For the health and logistics sectors, this can partly be explained by the unrest that has arisen about the hiring of self-employed persons. For the agriculture and horticulture sector, we mainly see a large decrease in starters in the service sector (for arable and/or horticulture and for breeding and keeping animals). The general tenor is that this sector is facing an uncertain future with an expected significant reduction in the livestock population, which is not attractive for starters,” says Josette Dijkhuizen.
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