* indicates monthly or quarterly data series

Government debt as percent of GDP, 2022 - Country rankings:

The average for 2022 based on 92 countries was 71.66 percent.The highest value was in Japan: 238.7 percent and the lowest value was in Montserrat: 4.67 percent. The indicator is available from 1960 to 2022. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

Measure: percent;
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* indicates monthly or quarterly data series


Countries Government debt, 2022 Global rank Available data
Japan 238.7 1 2013 - 2022
Greece 171.3 2 1995 - 2022
Italy 144.7 3 1995 - 2022
Singapore 134.16 4 1990 - 2022
Bhutan 124.79 5 1993 - 2022
Barbados 123.8 6 2012 - 2022
Suriname 122.2 7 2006 - 2022
USA 118.08 8 1960 - 2022
Portugal 113.9 9 1995 - 2022
Sri Lanka 113.8 10 2000 - 2022
Spain 113.2 11 1995 - 2022
Maldives 113 12 2012 - 2022
France 111.6 13 1978 - 2022
Canada 106.59 14 1980 - 2022
Belgium 105.1 15 1995 - 2022
Dominica 104.3 16 2000 - 2022
UK 100.45 17 1974 - 2022
Sierra Leone 98.85 18 2001 - 2022
Bahrain 96.3 19 2010 - 2022
Euro area 91.5 20 1995 - 2022
Aruba 90.1 21 1989 - 2022
Bahamas 90 22 2003 - 2022
Egypt 88.53 23 1998 - 2022
St. Vincent & ... 87.77 24 2000 - 2022
Fiji 87.3 25 2016 - 2022
Cyprus 86.5 26 1995 - 2022
Saint Lucia 85.6 27 2000 - 2022
Argentina 85 28 1997 - 2022
Ant.& Barb. 84.83 29 2000 - 2022
Jamaica 84.12 30 1999 - 2022
Gambia 83.95 31 2000 - 2022
Bolivia 82.62 32 2000 - 2022
Costa Rica 82.36 33 1991 - 2022
Tunisia 79.42 34 1986 - 2022
Ukraine 78.5 35 1997 - 2022
Austria 78.4 36 1988 - 2022
El Salvador 78.03 37 1991 - 2022
China 77.1 38 1995 - 2022
Jordan 76.6 39 1988 - 2022
Brazil 73.45 40 2006 - 2022
Hungary 73.3 41 1995 - 2022
Finland 73 42 1975 - 2022
Tr.&Tobago 71.7 43 2007 - 2022
South Africa 71 44 2000 - 2022
Slovenia 69.9 45 1995 - 2022
Morocco 69.8 46 1990 - 2022
Croatia 68.4 47 1995 - 2022
Kenya 67.3 48 2000 - 2022
Albania 66.98 49 1993 - 2022
Uruguay 66.94 50 2012 - 2022
Germany 66.3 51 1991 - 2022
Colombia 64.95 52 2006 - 2022
Grenada 64.75 53 2000 - 2022
Israel 60.73 54 1983 - 2022
Thailand 60.67 55 1996 - 2022
Domin. Rep. 58.56 56 2000 - 2022
Slovakia 57.8 57 1993 - 2022
Madagascar 56.99 58 1990 - 2022
Ivory Coast 56.75 59 1997 - 2022
Serbia 55.7 60 2000 - 2022
Ecuador 55.36 61 1990 - 2022
Malta 53.4 62 1995 - 2022
Netherlands 51 63 1980 - 2022
Poland 49.1 64 1995 - 2022
North Macedonia 48.74 65 1999 - 2022
Honduras 48.04 66 2002 - 2022
Romania 47.3 67 1995 - 2022
Ethiopia 44.7 68 2014 - 2022
Ireland 44.7 69 1995 - 2022
Czechia 44.11 70 1995 - 2022
Samoa 43.53 71 1998 - 2022
Switzerland 42.16 72 1991 - 2022
Nepal 41.46 73 1975 - 2022
Georgia 41.3 74 2004 - 2022
Latvia 40.8 75 1995 - 2022
Mexico 40.8 76 1998 - 2022
Indonesia 39.93 77 2000 - 2022
Belarus 39.75 78 2004 - 2022
Norway 37.4 79 1980 - 2022
Paraguay 36.6 80 2004 - 2022
Peru 33.84 81 1999 - 2022
Sweden 33 82 1995 - 2022
Turkey 31.74 83 2002 - 2022
Denmark 30.1 84 2000 - 2022
Guatemala 27.45 85 2007 - 2022
Haiti 25.01 86 1997 - 2022
Kazakhstan 23.5 87 2002 - 2022
Bulgaria 22.9 88 1997 - 2022
Nigeria 22.85 89 2004 - 2022
Azerbaijan 20.67 90 1995 - 2022
Estonia 18.4 91 1995 - 2022
Montserrat 4.67 92 2000 - 2022


Definition: Debt is the entire stock of direct government fixed-term contractual obligations to others outstanding on a particular date. It includes domestic and foreign liabilities such as currency and money deposits, securities other than shares, and loans. It is the gross amount of government liabilities reduced by the amount of equity and financial derivatives held by the government. Because debt is a stock rather than a flow, it is measured as of a given date, usually the last day of the fiscal year.
Why and how do governments borrow money?

Governments engage in various activities but tax revenue often falls short of the financing needed to fund these activities. That results in a fiscal deficit, a situation where government expenditure exceeds revenue. To finance such a deficit, governments borrow to undertake their fundamental roles. In addition, governments consider borrowing over the printing of money or an increase in tax due to the risk of inflation or reducing household consumption and private investment.

Governments owe public debt either to local or foreign lenders. Most government debts are usually in the form of bills, bonds, notes, etc., which the governments are expected to pay back the domestic holders at an agreed time. Furthermore, governments also accumulate foreign debt by borrowing from foreign banks, foreign governments, or multilateral organizations such as the World Bank and the IMF. The major distinction between domestic and foreign debts is that while the former is owed in the country’s currency, the latter is owed in a foreign currency, usually the U.S. dollar. Maintaining government debt in the domestic currency is preferable but countries often resort to foreign borrowing when the amount needed cannot be provided via local sources.

At what threshold does debt become a problem?

The general prudence prescription is that advanced economics should aim for debt no greater than 60 percent of GDP while emerging markets should not exceed 40 percent of GDP. However, these levels are not set in stone as various studies point to debt of 100 percent or even more for developed countries. Clearly, most advanced economies have government debt to GDP well in excess of 60 percent and these debts are sustainable and do not seem to reduce economic growth. For emerging markets the 40 percent threshold seems more binding as the debt is more likely to be denominated in dollars and the countries have more limited access to global financial markets. If the dollar appreciates or global liquidity declines, these countries could enter into debt problems.

A major consideration is whether the debt service, i.e. the interest paid on debt, is a large fraction of government spending. If it is, then servicing the debt could become a problem in economic downturns when government revenue declines or when interest rates increase.

At the far end of the debt scale are the heavily indebted poor countries (HIPCs) with debt levels as high as 200 percent of GDP or even greater. These are poor nations that cannot service these debts without the sustained help of the multilateral institutions. For more information about the list of countries and the HIPC initiative, you can visit the International Monetary Fund Factsheet page.

Measures to maintain debt sustainability

There are several approaches to promoting debt sustainability. First, maintaining sustained high GDP growth helps to reduce the debt-to-GDP ratio, which significantly lowers the volume of debt relative to GDP. Second, governments can also use low interest payments to reduce the burden of debt repayment. Third, if debt is acquired in a foreign currency, countries can ensure debt sustainability by maintaining a low depreciation in their exchange rate in order to reduce the cost of repaying the debt.

And, overall, debt to GDP does not increase if fiscal deficits to GDP are lower than the rate of GDP growth. Then, while fiscal deficits add to the level of debt, these additions are smaller than the expansion of the economy. The debt to GDP ratio then does not increase. In other words, the surest path to debt sustainability is to keep the debt level low by not running large fiscal deficits.


238.70
171.30
144.70
134.16
124.79
123.80
122.20
118.08
113.90
113.80
113.20
113.00
111.60
106.59
105.10
104.30
100.45
98.85
96.30
91.50
90.10
90.00
88.53
87.77
87.30
86.50
85.60
85.00
84.83
84.12
83.95
82.62
82.36
79.42
78.50
78.40
78.03
77.10
76.60
73.45
73.30
73.00
71.70
71.00
69.90
69.80
68.40
67.30
66.98
66.94
66.30
64.95
64.75
60.73
60.67
58.56
57.80
56.99
56.75
55.70
55.36
53.40
51.00
49.10
48.74
48.04
47.30
44.70
44.70
44.11
43.53
42.16
41.46
41.30
40.80
40.80
39.93
39.75
37.40
36.60
33.84
33.00
31.74
30.10
27.45
25.01
23.50
22.90
22.85
20.67
18.40
4.67
0
59.7
119.4
179
238.7
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