Over the time has been increasing the interest in understanding the subjects of insolvency and bankruptcy due to its consequences for the country’s economic performance, and, actually, to its importance in the actual economic European context. The present work studies the evolution of bankruptcy of Portuguese fi rms in the last two decades, and obtains a set of macroeconomic factors which can explain this occurrence. It was considered the period 1990-2009, and the methodology used was a regression model including variables considerate in several empirical studies sustained in the literature review. The obtained results pointed to the relevance of macroeconomic variables as most signifi cant explanatory variables for the Portuguese case. JEL Classification: C22, G32, G33, D20 ; insolvency, bankruptcy, firms, internal and external causes, Portugal