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Liquidations 1980-2025

South Africa, 1980 - 2025
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Reference ID
zaf-statssa-l-1980-2025-v1
Producer(s)
Statistics South Africa
Metadata
Documentation in PDF DDI/XML JSON
Created on
Dec 08, 2025
Last modified
Dec 11, 2025
Page views
2503
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  • Identification
  • Version
  • Scope
  • Coverage
  • Producers and sponsors
  • Data collection
  • Data processing
  • Data appraisal
  • access_policy
  • Contacts
  • Metadata production

    • Identification

    Survey ID number
    zaf-statssa-l-1980-2025-v1
    Title
    Liquidations 1980-2025
    Abbreviation or Acronym
    L 1980-2025
    Country
    Name Country code
    South Africa zaf
    Study type
    Other
    Abstract
    Statistics South Africa (StatsSA) compiles data on liquidations using administrative records obtained from the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) within the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (the DTIC). The statistical series captures both voluntary and compulsory liquidations of companies and close corporations across South Africa. The purpose of collecting and publishing this data is to provide timely indicators of business distress and overall economic performance. The information is widely used by government, researchers, and the private sector to monitor trends in business closures, assess sectoral vulnerabilities, and gauge the extent of unpaid debt within the economy. The dataset contains aggregated counts of liquidation cases, classified by type of liquidation and legal entity. This data supports economic analysis, policy development, and the evaluation of financial stability in South Africa.
    Kind of Data
    Time-Series
    Unit of Analysis
    Establishments

    Version

    Version Description
    V1: Edited, anonymised dataset for public distribution
    Version Date
    2025

    Scope

    Notes

    This survey covers the total number of companies and close corporations which were liquidated

    Coverage

    Geographic Coverage
    National coverage
    Universe
    All business entities registered with the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission

    Producers and sponsors

    Primary investigators
    Name Affiliation
    Statistics South Africa Government of South Africa
    Producers
    Name Affiliation
    Companies and Intellectual Property Commission Department of Trade, Industry and Competition

    Data collection

    Dates of Data Collection
    Start End Cycle
    1980-03 2025-10 Monthly
    Data Collection Mode
    • Other
    Data Collectors
    Name Affiliation Abbreviation
    Statistics South Africa Government of South Africa StatsSA
    Companies and Intellectual Property Commission Government of South Africa CIPC

    Data processing

    Data Editing
    During processing, the original monthly data were integrated and converted into a structured time-series format by DataFirst. Monthly variables contained in separate columns were reshaped into a long dataset in which each row represents a unique liquidation count for a specific month and classification category. A standardised reference-date variable was then constructed to ensure temporal comparability across years. Classification variables—namely business type, liquidation type, and industry—were harmonised, recoded into numeric codes, and assigned appropriate value labels to promote consistent interpretation across time. Descriptive variable labels were added to all key fields to enhance usability in statistical software environments. Text fields were standardised to lowercase to eliminate variation caused by inconsistent text formatting. After all processing steps were completed, the dataset was sorted chronologically and organised into a tidy structure suitable for producing time-series indicators, tables, and aggregated outputs. The final cleaned dataset was exported in Stata (.dta) format for analysis and dissemination.

    Data appraisal

    Data Appraisal
    For the period 1980 to 1999, the monthly records contain only the total number of liquidations. From 2000 onwards, the data includes additional detail, such as the legal form of the business entity, whether the liquidation was voluntary or compulsory, and the industry classification, allowing for more granular analysis of liquidation trends

    access_policy

    Access authority
    Name Affiliation URL Email
    DataFirst University of Cape Town support@data1st.org
    Access conditions
    Public access data for use under a Creative Commons CC-BY (Attribution-only) License
    Citation requirements
    Statistics South Africa. Liquidations 1980-2025 [dataset]. Version 1. Place: StatsSA [producer], 2025. Cape Town: DataFirst [distributor], 2025. DOI: https://doi.org/10.25828/fmm7-j859

    Contacts

    Contacts
    Name Affiliation Email URL
    DataFirst Support University of Cape Town support@data1st.org

    Metadata production

    Producers
    Name Affiliation Role
    DataFirst University of Cape Town Metadata producer
    Date of Metadata Production
    2025-12-11

    Metadata version

    DDI Document version
    Version 1
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