Largest municipal bankruptcy

The largest municipal bankruptcy in modern times (since World War II) amounts to an estimated $18–20 billion, filed by the city of Detroit in Michigan, USA, on 18 July 2013. Detroit has more than 150,000 abandoned buildings, including former schools, train stations and factories, and an estimated 40% of the city's streetlights do not work. From its height as a hub of the car industry in the early 20th century, Detroit's expansion reversed in recent decades. With 700,000 citizens now, it has less than half the population of its 1950 height and much of the city is in decay. Factors in the bankruptcy include a shrunken tax base but a 139-square-mile city to maintain; health care and pension costs, aged computer systems and widespread dysfunction. Bankruptcy could take years and is itself expected to be costly and complex.