2021 Justice Statistics: pending proceedings at a minimum level since 1995

Last year was the ninth year in a row with a drop in the number of pending proceedings in courts of the first instance. This is the lowest number of pending proceedings since 1995.

 The number of pending proceedings in the courts of first instance in 2021 fell 8.9% compared to 2020. According to the Justice Statistics disclosed today by the Directorate-General for Justice Policy (DGPJ), the number of pending proceedings in these courts was 626 844 as at 31 December 2021, not taking into account the data from the sentence enforcement.

These results are due to an improvement in the resolution rate for the ninth year in a row, which was at 115.5%, despite the rise in the number of proceedings filed. In 2021, the number of proceedings closed (+4,5%) was higher than the number of proceedings filed (+3,8%), with a positive balance of 61 195 proceedings.

In 2021, civil proceedings accounted for 61% of the total proceedings filed and 65% of the total proceedings closed. These were the proceedings with the greatest impact on the overall outcome.

 Collection suits: the number of civil collections pending hadn’t been this low since 1999

The number of civil collection suits pending in the courts of first instance as at 31 December 2021 was 396 407, a number that hadn’t been this low since 1999. The amount of the pending collections recorded in the 4th quarter of 2021 is therefore the lowest in the last 22 years.

In the 4th quarter of 2021, the number of civil collections pending recorded a drop of 12.5% on the 4th quarter of 2020.

The resolution rate in the 4th quarter of 2021 was 145,0% with a positive balance, accounting to 12 297 less proceedings.

Insolvency, special revitalisation proceedings for payment agreement: number of insolvencies declared was the lowest since 2011

Once more, it was reinforced that the pattern of growth of the bankruptcy, insolvency and recovery of companies’ suits (together with a similar trend of the rise in the number of proceedings closed), recorded between 2007 and 2014 is over. From 2015 to 2021 there was a drop in these numbers.

In the fourth quarter of 2021, the number of insolvencies was the lowest year-on-year since 2011.