List of National Debt by Country

By Tejvan Pettinger on October 1, 2014 in economics

 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,
o  In Q1 2014 – Net US debt was 74% (debt held by private sector). Gross US debt
was 103% (this includes intra-governmental holdings
 Updated October, 2014

List of National Debt by Country

General gross government debt. Mostly using CIA from April 2014.

Debt levels for 2013.

Debt % of
Pos Country Read more
GDP
1 Japan 226 Japan debt
2 Zimbabwe 202.4
3 Greece 175
4 Italy 133  Italy debt
5 Iceland 130.5
6 Portugal 127.8  Portugal debt
7 Ireland 124.2  Ireland debt
8 Jamaica 123
9 Lebanon 120
10 Cyprus 113
11 Sudan 111
12 Grenada 110
13 Singapore 105.5
14 Eritrea 104.7
15 Belgium 102.4
16 Puerto Rico 96.5
17 Spain 93.7  Spain debt
18 France 93.4  France debt
19 Egypt 92.2
20 United Kingdom 91.1  UK debt
21 Barbados 90.5
22 Antigua and Barbuda 89
23 Canada 86.3  Canada debt
24 Cabo Verde 86.2
25 Saint Kitts and Nevis 83
26 Germany 79.9
27 Hungary 79.8
28 Jordan 79.1
29 Sri Lanka 78.4
30 Saint Lucia 77
31 Morocco 76.9
32 Austria 75.7
33 Malta 75
34 Belize 75
35 Netherlands 74.3
36 United States 71.8  US debt
37 Slovenia 71.7
38 Albania 70.5
39 Dominica 70
40 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 68
41 Israel 67
42 Aruba 67
43 Croatia 66.2
44 Sao Tome and Principe 65.5
45 Uruguay 62
46 El Salvador 62
47 Serbia 61.2
48 Bahrain 61.2
49 Guyana 59.9
50 Brazil 59.2
51 Syria 58.9
52 Mauritius 68
53 Finland 56.5
54 Fiji 56.2
55 Slovakia 55.5
56 Costa Rica 55
57 Pakistan 54.6
58 Malaysia 54.6
59 Kenya 53.5
60 Ghana 53.1
61 Montenegro 52.1
62 Seychelles 51.8
63 India 51.8
64 Tunisia 51
65 Malawi 50.8
66 Nicaragua 50
67 Ethiopia 50
68 Philippines 50
69 Czech Republic 48.8
70 Vietnam 48.2
71 Poland 48.2
72 Burundi 47.6
73 Yemen 47.1
74 Dominican Republic 47
75 Denmark 47
76 Mozambique 46.7
77 Laos 46.3
78 Bosnia and Herzegovina 45.9
79 Thailand 45.9
80 Argentina 45.8
81 South Africa 45.4
82 Cote d’Ivoire 45.2
83 Tanzania 42.7
84 United Arab Emirates 41.7
85 Sweden 41.5
86 Andorra 41.1
87 Honduras 40.6
88 Ukraine 40.6
89 Lithuania 40.2
90 Panama 39.8
91 Colombia 39.6
92 Latvia 39.2
93 Bhutan 38.9
94 Taiwan 38.9
95 Djibouti 38.6
96 Romania 38.6
97 Senegal 38.4
98 New Zealand 38.4
99 Armenia 37.7
100 Mexico 37.7
101 Trinidad and Tobago 37.1
102 Turkey 36.6
103 Georgia 36.3
104 Bolivia 36
105 Cuba 35.9
106 Korea, South 35.8
107 Hong Kong 35.6
108 Macedonia 34.3
109 Venezuela 34.2
110 Switzerland 33.8
111 Curacao 33.2
112 Australia 32.6
113 Congo, Republic of the 32.1
114 Zambia 31.8
115 Belarus 31.5
116 Sierra Leone 31.1
117 Guatemala 31
118 Bangladesh 30.9
119 Uganda 30.7
120 Qatar 30.6
121 Chad 30.5
122 Mali 30.5
123 Norway 30.1
124 Benin 29.7
125 Papua New Guinea 28.1
126 Nepal 28
127 Namibia 27.2
128 San Marino 25.8
129 Indonesia 24
130 Rwanda 23.5
131 Ecuador 23.2
132 Gabon 23
133 Luxembourg 22.9
134 China 22.4
135 Anguilla 20
136 Nigeria 19.3
137 Iran 18.7
138 Bulgaria 18.4
139 Botswana 17.9
140 Cameroon 16.7
141 Moldova 16.6
142 Paraguay 15.7
143 Kazakhstan 15.6
144 Peru 14.9
145 Angola 14.7
146 Chile 13.9
147 Algeria 13.2
148 Saudi Arabia 12.2
149 Equatorial Guinea 11
150 Kosovo 9
151 Russia 7.9
152 Uzbekistan 7.6
153 Azerbaijan 7.5
154 Gibraltar 7.5
155 Tajikistan 6.5
156 Kuwait 6.4
157 Estonia 6
158 Wallis and Futuna 5.6
159 Libya 4.8
160 Oman 4.4
161 Liberia 3.3

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:

 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 ext