The National Statistics Institute, or INE, has said a record 2,272 Spanish
individuals and firms declared bankruptcy in the second quarter, up 28.6 per cent from the same period in 2011.
Failing businesses accounted for all of the increase, as personal bankruptcies fell by 12 per cent.
Spain had 6,755 bankruptcies in 2011, the highest annual total since the INE began keeping records, and an increase of 13.3 per cent over the previous year.
Nearly 31 per cent of all the firms that declared
bankruptcy in the second quarter were in construction, which continues to shrink as Spain
struggles with a double-dip recession and the bursting of a decade-long housing bubble.
Small and medium-sized companies, defined as those with annual turnover of less than 2 million euros ($2.48 million), represented 70 per cent of the business bankruptcies in the April-June period.
Spain's
jobless rate stands at 24.6 per cent overall and more than 53 per cent among people under 25.
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