While there are mounting concerns that personal bankruptcies will rise this year, the final tally for 2000 shows a 5% net decrease over 1999. The new figures may take some steam out of the bankruptcy reform legislation floating in Congress. According to data released by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, the total number of bankruptcies filed during the 2000 calendar year totaled 1,253,444 compared to 1,319,465 for the previous year. It is the second year in a row that bankruptcies have decreased. The drop in filings was mainly due to fewer chapter 7 bankruptcy filings, particularly chapter 7 non-business filings. Of the total number of bankruptcy filings for the 2000 calendar year, there were 859,220 chapter 7 filings, a 7.3% decrease from the 927,074 filings from the same period in 1999. Chapter 7 bankruptcies represent 69% of all non-business bankruptcies during calendar year 2000. The next largest group of filings in 2000 was the chapter 13 filings at 383,894, which rose 0.4% from 382,214 in the 1999 calendar year. The total number of filings for the fourth quarter of 2000 was 310,169, slightly up from the third quarter 2000 by 0.48% but down 2.7% from the same period in 1999. For more information visit http//www.abiworld.org.