Nearly 300,000 lawsuits over utility debt were filed last year

A total of 3.1 million court cases were recorded in 2024 — just 0.3% more than the year before.

Criminal cases increased the most — by 1.6 times. Previously, there were 332,000 such cases; now it’s 528,000. Civil cases also grew by 7%, reaching 1 million compared to 982,000 in 2023.

Meanwhile, cases in commercial and administrative courts dropped by 14% and 11%, respectively. Cases involving administrative offenses decreased by 5%.

Last year, civil cases were the most common — 33% of all cases. Another 33% involved administrative offenses, and 17% were criminal. In previous years, the top three categories were: civil cases (31%), administrative offenses (29.7%), and administrative cases (15.9%).

Most civil court cases in 2024 were about utility debt collection. There were 298,000 such cases, making up 28% of all civil cases. Next most common were: Loan and credit disputes — 126,000 cases (12%), Divorces — 120,000 cases (11.5%).

Among administrative courts, pension-related cases once again took the lead. At the top of the list were social issues of those dismissed from public service — 151,000 cases or 33.7%. Another 85,000 cases (19%) were related to pension insurance, and an additional 22,000 cases (5%) concerned pension insurance for Chernobyl disaster victims.

Among commercial (economic) cases, writ proceedings were the most common — 7.3 thousand cases or 12%. Cases related to the supply of goods, works, and services accounted for 9.4%, while 7.6% were related to the supply of energy resources.