In the first quarter of 2026, registrations of market enterprises were 993, with a total of 898 new registrations of private limited companies during the period. For comparison purposes, there were 921 registrations of market enterprises in the first quarter of 2025. The most of new registrations were in Construction with a total of 150, which was a 6% increase from the previous year first quarter.
There were 361 market enterprises made insolvent in the first quarter of 2026, which is a 22% increase from the previous year first quarter when they were 296. Thereof, 107 were for market enterprises that were active in 2025, i.e. they either had registered employees according to the official PAYE tax registry or turnover according to VAT reports. Despite the fact that the number of insolvencies increased, the number of insolvencies with prior activity decreased by 4% in comparison with the first quarter of 2025.
There were 515 employees in 107 market enterprises that were active in 2025 and made insolvent in the first quarter of 2026. The highest prior employment was in Construction with a total of 264, which was 44% increase from the previous year first quarter. The second highest prior employment was in Tourism with a total of 149 employees.
About the data
The data on new registrations and insolvencies is collected according to the ISAT2008 industry classification system for business sections and special aggregates defined by Statistics Iceland. The number of insolvencies for the latest month are temporary estimates and are subject to change with increased information on insolvency registrations from judicial authorities.