In the second quarter of 2026, registrations of market enterprises were 854, with a total of 754 new registrations of private limited companies during the period. For comparison purposes, there were 844 registrations of market enterprises in the second quarter of 2025. The most of new registrations were in Construction with a total of 133, which was a 6% decrease from the previous year's second quarter.
There were 334 market enterprises made insolvent in the second quarter of 2026, which is a 12% increase from the previous year second quarter when they were 299. Thereof, 121 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. The number of insolvencies with prior activity increased by 23% in comparison with the second quarter of 2025.
There were 645 employees in 121 market enterprises that were active in 2025 and made insolvent in the second quarter of 2026. The highest prior employment was in Construction with a total of 259, which was 32% decrease from the previous year's second quarter. The second highest prior employment was in Tourism with a total of 187 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.