Insolvency Dept: Over 37k M’sians Went Bankrupt Since 2019, Almost 50% Due to Personal Loans

The Malaysia Department of Insolvency (MdI) recently released the latest statistics regarding bankruptcy in our country, which provided interesting insights into the issue of insolvency among Malaysians.

According to MdI, a total of 233,483 bankruptcy cases have been handled by the department since its inception, 37,461 of which took place from January 2019 to December 2023. 

Overall, Selangor recorded the most cases of bankruptcy up until 2023, with 54,847 followed by Federal Territories with 43,315 cases. Making up the top 5 are Johor Bahru (27,273), Penang (19,328) and Perak (12,041).

In recent history (2019 to 2023), the top 5 regions with most insolvency cases are as follows:

1. Selangor – 9,070 cases
2. Federal Territories – 4,361 cases
3. Johor Bahru – 3,165 cases
4. Kedah – 2,359 cases
5. Sabah – 2,213 cases

Do note that since 2020, MdI also included non-citizens in the statistics, though the number is not significant, with only 88 cases reported or 0.23% of the 37,461 total cases from January 2019 to December 2023. Hence, in the same period, a total of 37,373 Malaysians went bankrupt in our country.

Furthermore, a breakdown of the total cases (including non-citizens) since 2019 in terms of race is as below:

A further breakdown of the total cases based on gender showed that there are significantly more bankruptcy cases among men, which is 27,589 or a whopping 73.65%. Meanwhile, 26.626% or 9,838 are women while the remaining 0.09% involve cases where the gender of the individuals was not recorded in the case.

Besides that, those aged 35 to 44 recorded the highest number of bankruptcy cases from 2019 to 2023 at 14,476 (38.64%) followed by 45 to 44 with 10,052 (26.83%) and 25 to 34 with 6,874 (18.35%). Check out the full statistics according to age below:

As for the reason behind these individuals going into insolvency, almost half of cases since 2019, specifically 48.97% or 18,343 cases were due to personal loans. The second highest is business loans with 6,563 (17.52%) while the third highest is because of vehicle purchase agreements with 4,001 (10.68%).

For illustration purposes

The full list is as below:

1. Personal loans – 18,343 cases (48,97%)
2. Business loans – 6,563 cases (17.52%)
3. Vehicle purchase agreements – 4,001 cases (10.68%)
4. Housing loans – 3,099 cases (8.27%)
5. Card credit debts – 2,217 cases (5.72%)
6. Other debts – 1,180 cases (3.15%)
7. Income tax debts – 821 cases (2.19%)
8. Corporate guarantor – 797 cases (2.13%)
9. EPF contribution – 356 cases (0.95%)
10. Scholarships/study loans – 67 cases (0.18%)
11. Social guarantor – 17 cases (0.05%)

So, what do you guys think of these statistics? Share your thoughts with us in the comments!

Also read: “I’m earning only RM3K” – M’sian Struggles to Pay Nearly RM500K of Debts & Fears Losing His Govt Job