When the holiday's over - demographic aspects of personal bankruptcy

American Demographics, Dec, 1997 by Matthew Klein

http://www.abiworld.org

Americans filed for personal bankruptcy more than 1,125,000 times in 1996, 25 percent more than at the peak of the last recession, in 1992. Grinches searching for new ways to decry the consumerism of the holiday season can look to the American Bankruptcy Institutes (ABI) site for examples of what out-of-control spending brings.

While the number of bankruptcy filings are influenced a bit by the economic times in which they occurwith peaks in 1981 and 1992a far more pronounced trend influences them: Americans are increasingly likely to go bust. Since 1980, when the U.S. recorded 288,000 nonbusiness bankruptcies, the number of filings has nearly quadrupled. At this point, nonbusiness filings make up 96 percent of all bankruptcies, up from 87 percent in 1980.

Over the same period, business bankruptcy filings increased, too, but just from 44,000 to 54,000. The year with the greatest number of business bankruptcy filings was 1987, with 82,000.

The ABI site lists annual numbers of filings by state, judicial district, and chapter, and provides graphic representations of how total consumer debt and bankruptcy filings march hand in hand. In addition to the Media Stats & Info section from which these statistics are drawn, the site also has areas devoted to weightier legal aspects and news. Matthew Klein