The American Bankruptcy Institute highlighted that total filings in 2018 represented a decrease for the ninth year in a row.

According to data provided by Epiq Systems, total bankruptcy filings in 2018 dropped 2 percent year-over-year. Filings fell from 766,761 cases in 2017 to 755,182 filings in 2018.

Officials indicated total consumer filings also decreased to 717,360 nationwide in 2018, which came in 2 percent less than the 728,299 total filings during 2017.

The 37,822 total commercial filings in 2018 also slipped 2 percent from the commercial filing total of 38,462 in 2017.

The commercial Chapter 11 filing total of 5,470 in 2018 represented a 5-percent drop from the 5,762 commercial Chapter 11 filings in 2017.

During the current federal government shutdown, officials pointed out that courts remain open to those needing to file for bankruptcy.

“Total filings fell for the ninth consecutive year as high filing costs continue to weigh on struggling businesses and families,” ABI executive director Samuel Gerdano said.

Looking at just the December data, total bankruptcy filings for the month dropped 1 percent to 52,020 from the 52,545 filings in December 2017. The 49,127 total noncommercial filings for December also represented a 1-percent decrease from the December 2017 noncommercial filing total of 49,473.

The average nationwide per capita bankruptcy filing rate for calendar year decreased slightly to 2.43 (total filings per 1,000 per population) from the 2.47 rate during 2017. States with the highest per capita filing rate (total filings per 1,000 population) through 2018 included:

1. Alabama (5.63)

2. Tennessee (5.38)

3. Georgia (4.57)

4. Mississippi (4.25)

5. Illinois (3.66)

ABI has partnered with Epiq Systems, a leading provider of managed technology for the global legal profession, in order to provide the most current bankruptcy filing data for analysts, researchers and members of the news media.