Chart 3.
The title is "Personal Bankruptcy Filings Rose Sharply during the First Six Months of the Year." The bar chart shows the number of personal bankruptcy filings each year from 1989 through June 2001. The number fluctuated between 145,000 and 225,000 a year from 1989 through 1995, except for the third quarter of 1990, when it increased to more than 250,000. Beginning in 1995, the number increased gradually each year, up to 362,000 in second-quarter 1998. In third-quarter 1998, personal bankruptcy filings began to decline, falling to 302,000 in fourth-quarter 2000. In the first half of 2001, bankruptcies increased to 390,000.