Tokyo Shoko Research published Wednesday it’s survey on the number of companies that closed or suspended activities in 2016.

According to the survey, 309 companies had closed or suspended their activities in Okinawa in 2016 that is 9.96% more than the last before. It is the 3rd largest number since the survey started in 2000.

70% of the companies had a president who is over 60 years old. Since the economy in Okinawa is good and bankruptcy rate remains low, the reason for the increasing number of companies closing or suspending activities is the aging of their presidents/owners.

By age, 38.7% of the presidents were in their 60’s, 21.7% in the 70’s, and 16.2% were in the 50’s. 71.3% were over 60 years old or older. Besides only 1.5% of the presidents and owners were in their 30’s or younger. That leads to reason that there are many companies that are closed or suspended, not because they go bankrupt but because there is no successor.

The number of companies that were closed or suspended was only 108 in 2002, however the number climbed to more than 200 since 2006. The number increased in 2016 for the 2nd consecutive year, exceeding 300 for the first time in three years.

The number of companies that go bankrupt has been at double-digit low levels and decreased for the 3rd consecutive year.

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