A record 2,272 Spanish individuals and firmsdeclared bankruptcy in the second quarter, up 28.6 percent from the same periodin 2011, the National Statistics Institute, or INE, said.
Failing businesses accounted for all of the increase, as personal bankruptciesfell by 12 percent.
Spain had 6,755 bankruptcies in 2011, the highest annual total since the INEbegan keeping records, and an increase of 13.3 percent over the previous year.
Nearly 31 percent of all the firms that declared bankruptcy in the secondquarter were in construction, which continues to shrink as Spain struggles witha double-dip recession and the bursting of a decade-long housing bubble.
Small and medium-sized companies, defined as those with annual turnover of lessthan 2 million euros ($2.48 million), represented 70 percent of the businessbankruptcies in the April-June period.
Spain's jobless rate stands at 24.6 percent overall and more than 53 percentamong people under 25.