List of National Debt by Country (As a Percentage of GDP)

Economics Help ^ | 12/31/2012 | Tejvan Pettinger

[SeekAndFind]

• This is a list of the gross National debt that countries have. National debt refers to the amount of total government debt a country has. This is also referred to as ‘public sector debt’.
• It is compiled using data from the IMF, Eurostat and CIA agencies.
• Note: National debt is different to ‘External debt‘ – External debt includes all the debts a country (both private and public sector) owe to foreigners.
• Note: You may see slightly different figures for government debt levels, depending how it is measured. For example,
  • Gross US debt is 102.9% in 2011. Net US debt was 67.8%
  • UK national debt is listed by government as 67% of GDP in 2012. But, using this gross measure it is 82.5%

List of National Debt by Country

General gross government debt. Mostly using IMF stats from April 2012.

	Country	Debt % GDP	Year		Read More
1	Japan	229.8	2011	IMF	Japan
2	Greece	163.3	2011	IMF
3	Jamaica	139.0	2011	IMF
4	Lebanon	136.2	2011	IMF
5	Eritrea	133.8	2011	IMF
6	Italy	120.1	2011	IMF	Italy
7	Barbados	117.3	2011	IMF
8	Portugal	106.8	2011	IMF	Portugal
9	Ireland	105.0	2011	IMF	Ireland
10	United States	102.9	2011	IMF	US
11	Singapore	100.8	2011	IMF
12	Iceland	99.2	2011	IMF
13	Belgium	98.5	2011	IMF
14	Mauritania	92.4	2011	IMF
15	Côte d’Ivoire	90.5	2011	IMF
16	Iraq	86.9	2011	IMF
17	Grenada	86.6	2011	IMF
18	France	86.3	2011	IMF	France
19	Canada	85.0	2011	IMF	Canada
20	United Kingdom	82.5	2011	IMF	UK
21	Bhutan	82.0	2011	IMF
22	Germany	81.5	2011	IMF
23	Hungary	80.4	2011	IMF
24	Belize	80.3	2011	IMF
25	Sri Lanka	79.0	2011	CIA
26	Cape Verde	77.6	2011	IMF
27	Egypt	76.4	2011	IMF
28	Israel	74.3	2011	IMF
29	Sudan	73.1	2011	IMF
30	Austria	72.2	2011	IMF
31	Guinea	72.2	2011	IMF
32	Nicaragua	72.0	2011	IMF
33	Cyprus	71.8	2011	IMF
34	Malta	70.9	2011	IMF
35	Zimbabwe	70.3	2011	IMF
36	Dominica	69.9	2011	IMF
37	Jordan	69.8	2011	IMF
38	The Gambia	68.8	2011	IMF
39	Spain	68.5	2011	IMF	Spain
40	India	68.1	2011	IMF
41	Netherlands	66.2	2011	IMF
42	Brazil	66.2	2011	IMF
43	Guyana	61.8	2011	IMF
44	Pakistan	60.1	2011	IMF
45	Sierra Leone	60.0	2011	IMF
46	Albania	58.9	2011	IMF
47	Poland	55.4	2011	IMF
48	Morocco	54.4	2011	IMF
49	Uruguay	54.2	2011	IMF
50	Fiji	53.9	2011	IMF
51	Malaysia	52.6	2011	IMF
52	Kyrgyz Republic	52.4	2011	IMF
53	El Salvador	50.8	2011	IMF
54	Mauritius	50.6	2011	IMF
55	Belarus	50.2	2011	IMF
56	Norway	49.6	2011	IMF
57	Kenya	48.9	2011	IMF
58	Switzerland	48.6	2011	IMF
59	The Bahamas	48.6	2011	IMF
60	Finland	48.6	2011	IMF
61	Serbia	47.9	2011	IMF
62	Slovenia	47.3	2011	IMF
63	Denmark	46.4	2011	IMF
64	Montenegro	45.8	2011	IMF
65	Croatia	45.6	2011	IMF
66	Venezuela	45.5	2011	IMF
67	Slovak Republic	44.6	2011	IMF
68	Tanzania	44.4	2011	IMF
69	Myanmar	44.3	2011	IMF
70	Argentina	44.2	2011	IMF
71	Mexico	43.8	2011	IMF
72	Ghana	43.4	2011	IMF
73	Malawi	42.5	2011	IMF
74	Tunisia	42.4	2011	IMF
75	Thailand	41.7	2011	IMF
76	Czech Republic	41.5	2011	IMF
77	Central African Rep.	40.9	2011	IMF
78	Taiwan	40.8	2011	IMF
79	Bosnia – Herzegovina	40.6	2011	IMF
80	Senegal	40.6	2011	IMF
81	Philippines	40.5	2011	IMF
82	Turkey	39.4	2011	IMF
83	Lithuania	39.0	2011	IMF
84	South Africa	38.8	2011	IMF
85	Vietnam	38.0	2011	IMF
86	Panama	37.8	2011	IMF
87	Latvia	37.8	2011	IMF
88	Sweden	37.4	2011	IMF
89	Ethiopia	37.3	2011	IMF
90	New Zealand	37.0	2011	IMF
91	Ukraine	36.5	2011	IMF
92	Bahrain	36.5	2011	IMF
93	Tajikistan	35.3	2011	IMF
94	Burundi	35.3	2011	IMF
95	Armenia	35.1	2011	IMF
96	Colombia	34.7	2011	IMF
97	Korea	34.1	2011	IMF
98	Nepal	34.1	2011	IMF
99	Bangladesh	33.9	2011	CIA
100	Georgia	33.9	2011	IMF
101	Hong Kong	33.9	2011	IMF
102	Mozambique	33.2	2011	IMF
103	Romania	33.0	2011	IMF
104	Bolivia	32.9	2011	IMF
105	Chad	32.2	2011	IMF
106	Rep. Congo	32.0	2011	IMF
107	Qatar	31.5	2011	IMF
108	Benin	31.3	2011	IMF
109	Angola	30.9	2011	IMF
110	Costa Rica	30.8	2011	IMF
111	Mali	30.6	2011	IMF
112	Burkina Faso	29.4	2011	IMF
113	Dominican Republic	29.3	2011	IMF
114	Uganda	29.2	2011	IMF
115	Cambodia	28.6	2011	IMF
116	Honduras	28.1	2011	IMF
117	Macedonia	28.1	2011	IMF
118	Zambia	26.1	2011	IMF
119	China	25.8	2011	IMF
120	Indonesia	25.0	2011	IMF
121	Guatemala	24.1	2011	IMF
122	Rwanda	23.4	2011	IMF
123	Moldova	23.4	2011	IMF
124	Australia	22.9	2011	IMF
125	Solomon Islands	22.6	2011	IMF
126	Republic of Congo	22.2	2011	IMF
127	Namibia	21.9	2011	IMF
128	Peru	21.6	2011	IMF
129	Luxembourg	20.8	2011	IMF
130	Suriname	20.6	2011	IMF
131	Gabon	20.5	2011	IMF
132	Niger	18.9	2011	IMF
133	Ecuador	18.0	2011	IMF
134	Nigeria	17.9	2011	IMF
135	Swaziland	17.5	2011	IMF
136	Botswana	17.3	2011	IMF
137	Bulgaria	17.0	2011	IMF
138	United Arab Emirates	16.9	2011	IMF
139	Turkmenistan	15.4	2011	IMF
140	Liberia	13.9	2011	IMF
141	Paraguay	13.7	2011	IMF
142	Cameroon	12.9	2011	IMF
143	Iran	12.7	2011	IMF
144	Kazakhstan	10.9	2011	IMF
145	Haiti	10.6	2011	IMF
146	Azerbaijan	10.2	2011	IMF
147	Algeria	9.9	2011	IMF
148	Chile	9.9	2011	IMF
149	Russia	9.6	2011	IMF
150	Uzbekistan	9.1	2011	IMF
151	Equatorial Guinea	8.4	2011	IMF
152	Saudi Arabia	7.5	2011	IMF
153	Kuwait	7.3	2011	IMF
154	Estonia	6.0	2011	IMF
155	Madagascar	5.7	2011	IMF
156	Oman	5.1	2011	IMF

Sources:

• CIA factbook – National debt by Country
• Public debt, International Monetary Fund, April 2012
• Eurostat pdf.

 

Some selected levels of Public Sector debt in different countries:

• US Net Debt -is $11 trillion or 70% of GDP 2012 . US Gross debt is $15tn 102% of GDP.
  Gross debt includes funds held by government itself e.g. social security. Net debt (60% of GDP) below excludes this.( US Debt)
• Japan National Debt 228% of GDP 2011 (Japan national debt)
• Italy National Debt 123% of GDP 2012 (Italy debt)
• Canada National debt gross debt 85% of GDP(2012) – In Canada there are two measures. Net federal debt involves only central government. (38% of GDP).
• UK National Debt 67% of GDP (UK) See (UK national debt for more details.)
  

Further Reading

• Why is Japan able to borrow so much at low interest rates?

• How much can a government borrow?
• Euro Debt crisis explained
• National Debt, printing money and inflation

Annual Government Borrowing

An important factor is not just cumulative national debt, but, the annual budget deficit. This annual deficit determines the rate of deterioration in the public sector debt.

The budget deficit is the total amount the government needs to borrow in a particular year.

Budget Deficits by Country in 2012

This shows that the US has one of the highest budget deficits in the world.

 

External Debt

A different statistics is external debt, this the amount of debt a country owes to other countries. It includes both the private and public sector debt. See: list of external debt by country

Credit Ratings

• List of countries with highest credit rating (AAA)

Readers Question

• How can debt increase, but debt to GDP fall?
• History of US Debt / GDP
• What is difference between debt and deficit?

[ReaganÜberAlles]

Bump

[SENTINEL]

[oldbrowser]

We are right in there with the PIIGS and a couple of small islands.

We don't have a spending problem. /s

[Opinionated Blowhard]

Hey! We’re in the top 10!! Time to party!!!!!

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Chile at 9.9. Wow.

[Reeses]

Russia GDP public debt is 9.6%, they have a 13% flat tax, and an oversupply of blue eyed blonds. Dang.

[LivingNet]

OMG - we are getting beat by Eritrea. That is simply not acceptable...

[Owl558]

“We’re in the top 10!! Time to party!!!!!”

USA! USA! USA!

[SeekAndFind]

But we’re behind Greece and Japan. Are we going to allow that to happen?

The USA has always been Number 1.

[JustTheTruth]

What this totally omits is the much, much, much larger unfunded liabilities that generally accepted accounting rules require. The current value of those liabilities make our formal, reported national debt look puny by comparison. But then, who wants to face REALITY???

[JustTheTruth]

Correction= “... accounting rules require be reported.”

[BobL]

China’s at 25%.

Game over.

[TurboZamboni]

Goobermint doesn’t accept “generally accepted accounting rules. “

they just make up their own.