Economy

The Silent Funeral of German Manufacturing: How Every Fifth Industrial Company Vanished in 15 Years

A devastating study published in early June 2026 by Creditreform has laid bare the hollowed-out state of Germany’s industrial core. Over the past fifteen years, nearly 20 percent of the country’s manufacturing companies have quietly shut down, migrated, or dissolved, with the sector’s share of the total business registry plummeting to a historic low of 6.6 percent. This is not a cyclical dip; it is the structural deindustrialization of Europe’s economic powerhouse, driven by a lethal mix of high energy costs, bureaucratic inertia, and fierce global competition.