Solvency by sector and balance sheet class
How much equity entities have in their balance sheet, measured in the annual accounts they filed with the KVK for financial year 2024, by sector and by balance sheet class.
The short answer
Solvency, also called the solvency ratio, is equity divided by balance sheet total. In the annual accounts for financial year 2024 the median was 51,3% for micro, 73,4% for small, 76,7% for medium-sized and 84,9% for large entities, classified by balance sheet total. Holding companies push that up: in section K the median for small is 85,8%, in construction 47,4%.
Updated 30 October 2026
Key facts
| Definition | Equity divided by balance sheet total, from the filed balance sheet |
| Observations | 847.404 balance sheets for financial year 2024 |
| Median, balance sheet class small | 73,4% (71,7% for 2023) |
| KVK rule of thumb | 25% to 40%, depending on industry and lender |
How we calculate solvency
For each filing we divide equity by the balance sheet total, both as they appear on the filed balance sheet. A BV with € 120.000 of equity on a balance sheet total of € 400.000 has a solvency of 30,0%. If a filing contains both a company and a consolidated balance sheet, we take the company one.
Negative equity counts. As a result solvency can fall below zero; in balance sheet class micro that applies to about a quarter. Leaving it out would hide exactly the entities that are in trouble.
We then put all results in order per group. The first quartile (p25) is the value below which a quarter sits, the median the middle value and the third quartile (p75) the boundary of the top quarter. Between p25 and p75 lies the middle half of the group. We do not use an average: a handful of extreme balance sheets would shift it.
National, per balance sheet class
| Balance sheet class | Balance sheets | p10 | p25 | Median | p75 | p90 | Median 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Micro (balance sheet up to and including € 450.000) | 420.894 | −183,1% | −0,5% | 51,3% | 86,9% | 98,4% | 49,6% |
| Small (balance sheet above € 450.000 up to and including € 7,5 mln) | 379.601 | 7,8% | 40,0% | 73,4% | 94,0% | 99,1% | 71,7% |
| Medium-sized (balance sheet above € 7,5 mln up to and including € 25 mln) | 32.711 | 7,7% | 37,1% | 76,7% | 97,2% | 99,7% | 74,2% |
| Large (balance sheet above € 25 mln) | 14.198 | 5,8% | 36,6% | 84,9% | 99,5% | 100,0% | 84,9% |
| All classes | 847.404 | −31,9% | 20,3% | 64,8% | 91,7% | 99,0% | 63,0% |
Between 2023 and 2024 the median per class moved little; the differences between the classes are much larger than those between the years. The lower end for micro stands out: the first quartile is at −0,5%, so about a quarter has no positive equity. One in ten is below −183,1%.
The value that lenders consider healthy according to the KVK (25% to 40%) is a target, not a description of what is common. In balance sheet class small even the first quartile (40,0%) is already at the upper end of it.
By sector: balance sheet class small, financial year 2024
Balance sheet class small: balance sheet total above € 450.000 up to and including € 7,5 mln. Sorted from high to low median.
| Section (SBI 2008) | Balance sheets | p25 | Median | p75 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| K · Financial institutions and financial holding companies | 99.989 | 59,5% | 85,8% | 97,5% |
| M · Advisory and research, including non-financial holding companies | 36.769 | 43,8% | 76,4% | 94,6% |
| Q · Health and social care | 5.123 | 41,3% | 76,4% | 95,4% |
| A · Agriculture, forestry, fishing | 4.907 | 39,4% | 69,3% | 89,4% |
| B · Mining and quarrying | 104 | 29,7% | 63,8% | 87,2% |
| S · Other services | 727 | 21,6% | 55,5% | 84,5% |
| G · Wholesale and retail trade, cars | 20.423 | 27,5% | 53,9% | 76,7% |
| P · Education | 799 | 27,0% | 53,6% | 78,4% |
| J · Information and communication | 4.847 | 18,9% | 50,1% | 78,2% |
| L · Real estate | 12.531 | 13,5% | 50,0% | 83,3% |
| C · Manufacturing | 7.191 | 25,3% | 49,9% | 72,3% |
| I · Hospitality | 3.197 | 15,7% | 49,8% | 74,1% |
| R · Culture, sport and recreation | 1.731 | 15,3% | 49,5% | 79,5% |
| E · Water and waste | 372 | 21,5% | 49,0% | 71,5% |
| F · Construction | 8.716 | 22,5% | 47,4% | 70,1% |
| H · Transport and storage | 4.326 | 22,6% | 46,4% | 71,6% |
| N · Rental and other business services | 5.793 | 20,2% | 43,8% | 71,0% |
| D · Energy | 744 | 3,2% | 32,1% | 80,4% |
Between the highest median (section K, 85,8%) and the lowest (energy, 32,1%) there is a large gap. Most operating sectors are around half: construction at 47,4%, wholesale and retail at 53,9%, hospitality at 49,8%.
By sector: balance sheet class micro, financial year 2024
| Section (SBI 2008) | Balance sheets | p25 | Median | p75 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q · Health and social care | 6.113 | 17,9% | 64,3% | 90,0% |
| M · Advisory and research, including non-financial holding companies | 47.914 | 10,8% | 61,5% | 88,5% |
| K · Financial institutions and financial holding companies | 67.838 | 1,1% | 56,0% | 92,0% |
| B · Mining and quarrying | 110 | −45,1% | 52,6% | 97,8% |
| F · Construction | 8.774 | 1,1% | 47,4% | 79,0% |
| J · Information and communication | 10.310 | −15,9% | 47,2% | 82,3% |
| A · Agriculture, forestry, fishing | 1.561 | −10,8% | 46,0% | 85,7% |
| L · Real estate | 6.102 | −4,2% | 44,7% | 86,2% |
| E · Water and waste | 298 | −27,0% | 44,1% | 82,1% |
| P · Education | 2.187 | −11,2% | 42,2% | 79,4% |
| H · Transport and storage | 3.001 | 0,0% | 41,6% | 78,8% |
| N · Rental and other business services | 7.612 | −3,7% | 40,1% | 76,5% |
| S · Other services | 1.509 | −12,0% | 37,4% | 78,1% |
| C · Manufacturing | 5.713 | −24,1% | 36,3% | 74,8% |
| G · Wholesale and retail trade, cars | 18.224 | −27,6% | 34,3% | 75,9% |
| R · Culture, sport and recreation | 2.379 | −48,2% | 27,9% | 73,2% |
| I · Hospitality | 4.080 | −71,0% | 9,6% | 59,6% |
| D · Energy | 817 | −104,1% | 9,0% | 78,5% |
In balance sheet class micro (balance sheet total up to and including € 450.000) the median is below 25% in two sections: hospitality (9,6%) and energy (9,0%). A small balance sheet is sensitive: a loss of a few tens of thousands of euros or a loan from the shareholder already shifts the ratio strongly.
Why the median is so high: holding companies
The register is full of holding companies. Section K contains the financial holding companies (SBI 64.2) and with 100.394 filings is the largest section in balance sheet class small: 45,8% of all filings in that class with an SBI code. Section M also contains holding companies: SBI 70.1 is called "holdings (non-financial) and group services within own group". The median of M for small is 76,4%.
A holding company mainly owns shares in other companies and has few debts. You can see that in the balance sheets: in 35,7% of the small balance sheets in section K financial fixed assets are shown separately, with a median of 53,7% of the balance sheet total.
Entities without an SBI code (161.465 for small) have a median of 74,0%, close to the national figure. If you compare an operating company with the national figure, you are therefore partly comparing it with holding companies. Better to take the median of your own sector.
Worked example: comparing a construction company
A contractor in a BV has a balance sheet total of € 1.200.000 and € 360.000 of equity on 31 December. Solvency is 360.000 / 1.200.000 = 30,0%. With that balance sheet total the BV falls in balance sheet class small.
| Compared with | Limits | Result |
|---|---|---|
| KVK rule of thumb | 25% to 40% | Within the rule of thumb |
| All balance sheets in class small, 2024 | p25 40,0%, median 73,4% | Below the first quartile |
| Section F (construction), small, 2024 | p25 22,5%, median 47,4% | Above the first quartile, below the median |
The same number yields three judgements. Against all balance sheets in class small the BV looks weak, but holding companies are included there. Within construction it is in the lower half, not in the tail. A bank also looks at its own definition, in which a subordinated loan from the shareholder sometimes counts as equity.
What the figure does not show
- Book value is not market value. A property that has been carried at cost less depreciation for twenty years depresses equity; the same BV with a recently bought property looks less solvent.
- Micro and small entities may use tax-based valuation principles (art. 2:395a(7) and art. 2:396(6) DCC). Their equity is then the tax equity, with for example a reinvestment reserve in it.
- A debt on current account to the director-major shareholder is shown under liabilities, even if he never actually demands it.
- A young BV with a start-up loss often has a low or negative solvency without anything being wrong with the plan.
How it works in Jaarrekening.io
On the key ratios page of a financial year, Jaarrekening.io puts the median with p25 and p75 from this dataset below your own solvency and current ratio, and says whether your value falls within them. If the SBI code comes along when you look up the entity, the app compares with your sector and balance sheet class. Otherwise, or if the sector cell is too small, with all entities in the same balance sheet class. The app compares with the same financial year; for a financial year of which little has been filed yet, that comparison is provisional.
Source and licence
Source: KVK Business Register Open Dataset Annual Accounts, adaptation Jaarrekening.io, CC BY 4.0. Data downloaded and processed on 2 November 2026.
Calculation, definitions, limitations and the download of all cells: method and sources.
Sources
Frequently asked questions
What is a good solvency for a BV?
There is no statutory standard. According to the KVK, lenders consider 25% to 40% healthy. In the filed annual accounts for financial year 2024 the median in balance sheet class small was 73,4%, but many holding companies are included there. For an operating company your own sector says more: the median was 47,4% in construction, 53,9% in wholesale and retail trade and 49,8% in hospitality (balance sheet class small).
Why is the solvency of holding companies so high?
A holding company mainly owns shares in other companies and usually finances them with equity; it has few debts. In section K, which includes the financial holding companies, median solvency in balance sheet class small for financial year 2024 was 85,8%. Anyone who compares an operating company with the national figure therefore gets an overly gloomy picture.
Can solvency be negative?
Yes, if equity is negative. In balance sheet class micro (balance sheet total up to and including € 450.000) the first quartile for financial year 2024 was −0,5%: about a quarter had no positive equity. One in ten was below −183,1%. A BV with negative equity cannot pay a dividend (art. 2:216(1) DCC). If there is serious doubt whether the business can be continued, a small or larger entity sets that out in the notes (art. 2:384(3) DCC).
Which sector has the lowest solvency?
In balance sheet class small, section D (energy) had the lowest median for financial year 2024: 32,1%. In balance sheet class micro it was section D at 9,0%. The highest median in both classes was section K, because of the holding companies.
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