ALEXANDRIA, Va. -

While showing some lift when only considering the March data on a sequential comparison, the pace at which bankruptcy filings are declining continued to slow during the first quarter, according to data shared by the American Bankruptcy Institute this week.

Data provided by Epiq Systems showed total U.S. bankruptcy filings fell 5 percent in the first quarter compared to the same span last year. Q1 bankruptcy filings totaled 195,565; that’s down from the year-ago figure of 205,851 filings.

ABI noted the 186,357 noncommercial filings recorded in the first quarter represented a 6-percent decrease year-over-year, down from 198,413 filings.

However, total commercial filings for the first three months of 2016 came in at 9,208, representing a 24-percent increase from the 7,438 filings during the same period in 2015. Total commercial Chapter 11 filings also increased 9 percent from 1,300 last year to 1,419 during the first three months of this year.

“After 22 consecutive declines in total quarterly filings, the drop-off is tapering as more struggling businesses and households turn to the financial relief of bankruptcy,” ABI executive director Samuel Gerdano said.

“Distress in the energy and retail sectors is represented in the increasing total of business filings, and we are also seeing a rise in individual Chapter 11 filings,” Gerdano added.

For March, Epiq Systems data indicated there were 78,332 total recorded filings, representing an increase of 21 percent from the 64,686 filings registered in February. But the March figure was 4 percent lower than the 81,693 filings recorded in the same month last year.

The 74,981 total noncommercial filings in March represented a 22-percent increase over the February total of 61,651, but a 5 percent drop from the 79,016 noncommercial filings registered last March.

Total commercial filings in March increased 10 percent to 3,351 over the 3,035 filings recorded in the same month in 2015, and increased 25 percent from the 2,677 commercial filings registered last March.

The average nationwide per capita bankruptcy filing rate for the first three months of 2016 increased to 2.51 (total filings per 1,000 per population) from the 2.26 filing rate of the first two months of the year.

States with the highest per capita filing rate (total filings per 1,000 population) for the first quarter of 2016 were:

1. Tennessee (5.70)

2. Alabama (5.45)

3. Georgia (4.64)

4. Illinois (4.46)

5. Mississippi (3.89)

ABI has partnered with Epiq Systems — a provider of managed technology for the global legal profession — in order to provide the most current bankruptcy filing data for analysts, researchers and members of the news media.