This dataset provides values for GOVERNMENT DEBT TO GDP reported in several countries. The data includes current values, previous releases, historical highs and record lows, release frequency, reported unit and currency.

This statistic shows the national debt in the member states of the European Union in the second quarter of 2024. The data refer to the entire state and are comprised of the debts of central government, provinces, municipalities, local authorities and social security. In the second quarter of 2024, Greece's national debt amounted to about 369.4 billion euros. National debt in the EU member states National or government debt is the debt owed by a central government. No country in the European Union is debt-free, although some are able to manage their debts better than others. Debt is influenced by the economic situation of a country, factors such as unemployment, the rate of inflation or the trade figures have a significant impact on its extent, and are, in turn, influenced by the national debt. The economic crisis has hit some EU countries harder than others; Spain, Ireland and Greece especially have been struggling economically since 2008. Greece’s national debt has skyrocketed over the past few years, and the same can be said about Spain and Ireland. Other EU countries, like France and the United Kingdom have been affected as well, albeit not as severely. The national debt of a country can be reduced by applying several measures: money can be borrowed (for example in the form of rescue packages), austerity programs can be enforced, taxes can be increased or central banks can inject liquidity into the economy through the implementation of quantitative easing policies. Some critics of the policy claim that this could lead to a higher level of inflation, which, if severe enough, could have a detrimental impact on living standards.

Key information about European Union Government Debt: % of GDP

• European Union Government debt accounted for 81.6 % of the country's Nominal GDP in Sep 2024, compared with the ratio of 81.5 % in the previous quarter.
• EU government debt to GDP ratio data is updated quarterly, available from Mar 2000 to Sep 2024.
• The data reached an all-time high of 91.5 % in Mar 2021 and a record low of 62.4 % in Dec 2007.

• In the latest reports, EU National Government Debt reached 16,136.9 USD bn in Sep 2024.
• The country's Nominal GDP reached 4,430.4 USD bn in Mar 2023.

In the third quarter of 2024, Greece's national debt was the highest in all the European Union, amounting to 158 percent of Greece's gross domestic product. In spite of Greece's total being high by EU standards, it marks a substantial decrease from the historical high point reached by the country's national debt of 207 percent of GDP in 2020. Italy, France, Spain, Belgium, and Portugal also all have government debt worth over one year's production of their economies, while the small Baltic country of Estonia has the smallest national debt when compared with GDP, at only 24 percent. In debitum incrementum?A country’s national debt, also known as government debt or public debt, is defined as all borrowings owed by the government of a country. It usually comprises internal debt – owed to other governmental departments – and external debt, which is held by the public and is owed to government bond owners. National debt can be caused by a struggling economy in general, or by low tax income, which usually leads to money being borrowed from other governments for support, which in turn cannot be paid back right away. At first glance, a high national debt is not always a sign of a struggling economy – but since increasing debt can slow down economic growth significantly, it is imperative for the respective government to seek a steady reduction in the long run.

This statistic shows the national debt of the European Union and the euro area in relation to the gross domestic product (GDP) from 2020 to 2024, with projections up until 2030. In 2024, the national debt of the European Union amounted to approximately 82.5 percent of the gross domestic product.

Government Debt in European Union increased to 14543529 EUR Million in 2024 from 13901072 EUR Million in 2023. This dataset provides - European Union Government Debt- actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news.

This dataset provides values for GOVERNMENT DEBT reported in several countries. The data includes current values, previous releases, historical highs and record lows, release frequency, reported unit and currency.

Key information about EU External Debt

• European Union External Debt reached 18,601.5 USD bn in Sep 2024, compared with 17,837.7 USD bn in the previous quarter.
• EU External Debt: USD mn data is updated quarterly, available from Mar 2008 to Sep 2024.
• The data reached an all-time high of 18,779.1 USD bn in Sep 2021 and a record low of 13,821.6 USD bn in Jun 2010.

• In the latest reports of EU, Current Account recorded a surplus of 185.1 USD bn in Sep 2024.
• Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) increased by 4.8 USD bn in Nov 2024.
• EU Direct Investment Abroad expanded by 7.2 USD bn in Nov 2024.
• Its Foreign Portfolio Investment increased by 239.3 USD bn in Sep 2024.
• The country's Nominal GDP was reported at 4,430.4 USD bn in Mar 2023.

Euro Area recorded a Government Debt to GDP of 87.40 percent of the country's Gross Domestic Product in 2024. This dataset provides the latest reported value for - Euro Area Government Debt to GDP - plus previous releases, historical high and low, short-term forecast and long-term prediction, economic calendar, survey consensus and news.

In September 2024, the national debt of the United States had risen up to 35.46 trillion U.S. dollars. The national debt per capita had risen to 85,552 U.S. dollars in 2021. As represented by the statistic above, the public debt of the United States has been continuously rising. U.S. public debt Public debt, also known as national and governmental debt, is the debt owed by a nations’ central government. In the case of the U.S., national debt is owed by the federal government to Treasury security holders. Generally speaking, government debt increases with government spending, and can be decreased through taxes. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. government increased spending significantly to finance virus infrastructure, aid, and various forms of economic relief. International public debt Venezuela leads the global ranking of the 20 countries with the highest public debt in 2021. In relation to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Venezuela's public debt amounted to around 306.95 percent of GDP. Eritrea was ranked fifth, with an estimated debt of 170 percent of the Gross Domestic Product. The national debt of the United Kingdom is forecasted to grow from 87 percent in 2022 to 70 percent in 2027, in relation to the Gross Domestic Product. These figures include England, Wales, Scotland as well as Northern Ireland. Greece had the highest national debt among EU countries as of the 4th quarter of 2020 in relation to the Gross Domestic Product. Germany ranked 13th in the EU, with its national debt amounting to 69 percent of GDP in the same time period. Tuvalu was one of the 20 countries with the lowest national debt in 2021 in relation to the GDP, while Macao had an estimated level of national debt of zero percent, the lowest of any country. The data refer to the debts of the entire state, including the central government, the provinces, municipalities, local authorities and social insurance.

The statistic shows the national debt of France from 2019 to 2022, with projections up until 2029. In 2022, the national debt of France amounted to around 3.19 trillion U.S. dollars. For comparison, the Greek debt amounted to approximately 392.27 billion euros that same year. French national debt and developments in taxationFrance currently has one of the highest national debt levels of any of the world’s nations. Debt in the European Union’s second-largest economy is currently at around 97 percent of GDP. The cost of interest on the country’s debt alone comes in at over 1,600 euros per second; every man, woman, and child in France, of which there are 65.3 million in total, takes a share of just under 28 thousand euros of the debt.On 6th May 2012, the incumbent French President was defeated by François Hollande, leader of the French Socialist Party. The new President vowed to develop and change the tax system of France, announcing wide-ranging economic policies in a bid to balance the nation’s budget and right what he considered to be social wrongs. He pledged and supported the separation of lending and investment banks, as well as proposing sweeping changes to the French tax system. The introduction of the measure of capping tax loopholes at a maximum of ten thousand euros per year and questioning the solidarity tax on wealth, the annual direct wealth tax on those with assets above 1.3 million, were also part of Hollande’s proposals. The President has also signaled his intention to implement an income tax rate of 75 percent on revenue earned above one million euros per year. He stated the allocation of the revenue from this tax would be used to develop the deprived suburbs and to balance the nation's budget by 2017. France is a country brimming with big business and millionaires. The nation is home to the most millionaires in Europe; 2.6 million in total.

The Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union defines this indicator as the ratio of government debt outstanding at the end of the year to gross domestic product at current market prices. For this calculation, government debt is defined as the total consolidated gross debt at nominal value in the following categories of government liabilities (as defined in ESA 2010): currency and deposits (AF.2), debt securities (AF.3) and loans (AF.4). The general government sector comprises the subsectors of central government, state government, local government and social security funds. For further methodological guidance and interpretation, please refer to the Eurostat Manual on Government Deficit and Debt. Total government gross debt in million EUR is shown as well.

This scatter chart displays GDP (current US$) against central government debt (% of GDP) in Western Europe. The data is filtered where the date is 2021. The data is about countries per year.

This statistic shows the national debt of Greece from 2020 to 2023, with projections until 2030. In 2023, the national debt in Greece was around 420.4 billion U.S. dollars. In a ranking of debt to GDP per country, Greece is currently ranked third. Greece's struggle after the financial crisis Greece is a developed country in the EU and is highly dependent on its service sector as well as its tourism sector in order to gain profits. After going through a large economic boom from the 1950s to the 1970s as well as somewhat high GDP growth in the early to mid 2000s, Greece’s economy took a turn for the worse and struggled intensively, primarily due to the Great Recession, the Euro crisis as well as its own debt crisis. National debt within the country saw significant gains over the past decades, however roughly came to a halt due to financial rescue packages issued from the European Union in order to help Greece maintain and improve their economical situation. The nation’s continuous rise in debt has overwhelmed its estimated GDP over the years, which can be attributed to poor government execution and unnecessary spending. Large sums of financial aid were taken from major European banks to help balance out these government-induced failures and to potentially help refuel the economy to encourage more spending, which in turn would decrease the country’s continuously rising unemployment rate. Investors, consumers and workers alike are struggling to see a bright future in Greece, whose chances of an economic comeback are much lower than that of other struggling countries such as Portugal and Italy. However, Greece's financial situation might improve in the future, as it is estimated that at least its national debt will decrease - slowly, but steadily. Still, since its future participation in the European Union is in limbo as of now, these figures can only be estimates, not predictions.

The quarterly government debt data are conceptually consistent with the corresponding annual data compiled on a national accounts (EDP and ESA 2010) basis. For the purpose of the Excessive Deficit Procedure (EDP) in the Economic and monetary union (EMU), as well as for the Growth and Stability Pact, the current Protocol 12, annexed to the 2012 consolidated version of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, provides a complete definition of government debt: debt means total gross debt at nominal (face) value outstanding at the end of the year and consolidated between and within the sectors of general government. This definition is supplemented by Council Regulation (EC) No 479/2009, as amended by the Commission Regulation (EU) No 220/2014 (which has only updated references to ESA 2010 instruments) specifying the components of government debt with reference to the definitions of financial liabilities in ESA 2010. The data are expressed in million units of national currency and in % of GDP. Data are non-seasonally adjusted. The differences between the annual and quarterly debt figures may arise as a result of different timetables in the transmission on revised data. Annual EDP data notified by Member States in April and October are the subject of a thorough verification by Eurostat, which can lead to a revision of past quarterly data.

Government Debt In the Euro Area increased to 13258118 EUR Million in 2024 from 12753756 EUR Million in 2023. This dataset provides - Euro Area Government Debt- actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news.

For the purpose of the Excessive Deficit Procedure (EDP) in the Economic and monetary union (EMU), as well as for the Growth and Stability Pact, the current Protocol 12, annexed to the 2012 consolidated version of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, provides a complete definition of government debt: debt means total gross debt at nominal (face) value outstanding at the end of the year and consolidated between and within the sectors of general government. This definition is supplemented by Council Regulation (EC) No 479/2009, as amended by the Commission Regulation (EU) No 220/2014 (which has only updated references to ESA 2010 instruments) specifying the components of government debt with reference to the definitions of financial liabilities in ESA 2010. In this context, the stock of government debt in the Excessive Deficit Procedure (EDP debt) is equal to the sum of liabilities, at the end of year, of all units classified within the general government sector (S.13) in the following categories: AF.2 (currency and deposits) + AF.3 (debt securities) + AF.4 (loans). Basic data are expressed in national currency, converted into euro using end-year exchange rates for the euro provided by the European Central Bank (ECB). The MIP headline indicator is calculated as: [GGDt/GDPt]*100. The indicative threshold is 60% of GDP. The data are expressed in millions of units of national currency and in % of GDP. Copyright notice and free re-use of data on: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/about-us/policies/copyright

This table presents a number of key figures of the sector accounts. These main indicators provide the most important information on the total economy and on the main institutional sectors of the economy: non-financial corporations, financial corporations, general government, households including non-profit institutions serving households and the rest of the world. Data available from: Annual figures from 1995. Quarterly figures from first quarter 1999. Status of the figures: Annual figures from 1995 up to and including 2022 are final. Quarterly data from 2022 are provisional. Adjustment as of April 14th 2025: Quarterly and annualy data of general government debt (EMU) of 2024 were incorrectly hidden in the last version of this table. This has been adjusted in this version. Adjustment as of April 10th 2025: Due to an error made while processing the data, the initial preliminary figures for government expenditure in 2024 were calculated incorrectly, which means that the figure published for the general government balance was also incorrect. We refer to the Government Finance Statistics for the current figures. Links to the Government Finance Statistics could be found in paragraph 3. Until the publication end of June the Sector accounts therefore diverge from the Government Finance Statistics. When will new figures be published? Annual figures: The first annual data are published 85 day after the end of the reporting year as the sum of the four quarters of the year. Subsequently provisional data are published 6 months after the end of the reporting year. Final data are released 18 months after the end of the reporting year. Furthermore the financial accounts and stocks are annually revised for all reporting periods. These data are published each year in June. Quarterly figures: The first quarterly estimate is available 85 days after the end of each reporting quarter. The first quarter may be revised in September, the second quarter in December. Should further quarterly information become available thereafter, the estimates for the first three quarters may be revised in March. If (new) annual figures become available in June, the quarterly figures will be revised again to bring them in line with the annual figures. Please note that there is a possibility that adjustments might take place at the end of March or September, in order to provide the European Commission with the latest annual and quarterly figures.

The statistic shows the growth of the real gross domestic product (GDP) in the EU member states in the second quarter 2024 compared to the same quarter of the previous year. GDP is the total value of all goods and services produced in a country in a year. It is considered to be a very important indicator of the economic strength of a country and a positive change in it is a sign of economic growth. In the second quarter of 2024, the real GDP in Denmark increased by 2.5 percent compared to the same quarter of the previous year. The overall EU GDP amounted to around 15.8 trillion euros around the same time. Global economy and the economic crisis The global economy has been slowly recovery after having been devastated by the global financial crisis in 2008. The economic crisis, which hit Greece, Ireland and Portugal, among other countries, severely, marked the beginning of the European sovereign debt crisis which forced these nations to request a bailout between 2013 and 2014. In November 2014, the unemployment rate in Greece amounted to around a desastrous 25 percent, which means one quarter of Greeks who were of working age were out of work. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate average for the whole European Union was at 10 percent. In addition, Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Ireland ranked at the top of the list of the nations in the European Union with the largest national debt in relation to the gross domestic product. In the third quarter of 2014, Greece’s national debt amounted to 176 percent of the gross domestic product. Despite the crisis, the global economy is expected to improve. It is estimated that GDP in the European Union will grow by 1.85 percent in 2015 in comparison to the previous year. Also, the national debt in relation to GDP in Greece, Italy, Portugal and Ireland will decrease between 2015 and 2016.

The short survey on current issues relating to government spending and public debt was conducted by the opinion research institute forsa on behalf of the Press and Information Office of the Federal Government. In the survey period from 18.03.2024 to 20.03.2024, the German-speaking population aged 14 and over was asked in telephone interviews (CATI) about their attitudes to government spending and government debt. In particular, the focus is on the assessment of the debt brake and various options for reforming it. Respondents were selected using a multi-stage random sample as part of a multi-topic survey (policy BUS) including landline and mobile phone numbers (dual-frame sample). Assessment of Germany´s overall financial situation in terms of income and expenditure; assessment of Germany´s debt burden compared to most other industrialized countries; opinion on government debt (government debt should generally be avoided, is generally not a problem, only makes sense if it is used for investments for the future); government spends too much vs. too little money on various political and social tasks (health and care, defense, social affairs, climate protection, housing, integration of immigrants, pensions); opinion on the state only taking out new larger loans in exceptional emergency situations such as natural disasters (debt brake should remain as it is, it should be reformed or it should be abolished completely); evaluation of various proposals for reforming the debt regulation (change the debt limit so that the state can generally take on more debt than before, create a transitional rule so that even in the year following an emergency situation it is still possible to take on slightly more debt than usual, allow higher debt to be taken on if the economic situation is worse than expected, allow higher debt to be taken on for defense spending, allow higher debt to be taken on for investments in climate protection, allow higher debt to be taken on for investments in infrastructure such as roads and railways). Demography: sex; age; education; income level low, medium, high (net equivalent income); city size; party preference in the next federal election; voting behavior in the last federal election. Additionally coded were: Respondent ID; region west/east; weighting factor. Die Kurzumfrage über aktuelle Fragen zu Staatsausgaben und Staatsschulden wurde vom Meinungsforschungsinstitut forsa im Auftrag des Presse- und Informationsamtes der Bundesregierung durchgeführt. Im Erhebungszeitraum 18.03.2024 bis 20.03.2024 wurde die deutschsprachige Bevölkerung ab 14 Jahren in telefonischen Interviews (CATI) zu ihren Einstellungen zu Staatsausgaben und Staatsschulden befragt. Insbesondere geht es um die Bewertung der Schuldenbremse bzw. um verschiedene Möglichkeiten, sie zu reformieren. Die Auswahl der Befragten erfolgte durch eine mehrstufige Zufallsstichprobe im Rahmen einer Mehrthemenbefragung (Politik-BUS) unter Einschluss von Festnetz- und Mobilfunknummern (Dual-Frame Stichprobe). Bewertung der finanziellen Lage Deutschlands insgesamt bezogen auf Einnahmen und Ausgaben; Einschätzung der Schuldenlast Deutschlands im Vergleich zu den meisten anderen Industriestaaten; Meinung zu Staatsschulden (Schulden des Staates sollten grundsätzlich vermieden werden, sind grundsätzlich kein Problem, sind nur dann sinnvoll, wenn sie für Investitionen für die Zukunft eingesetzt werden); Staat gibt zu viel vs. zu wenig Geld aus für verschiedene politische und gesellschaftliche Aufgaben (Gesundheit und Pflege, Verteidigung, Soziales, Klimaschutz, Wohnungsbau, Integration von Zugewanderten, Renten); Meinung zur Neuaufnahme größerer Kredite durch den Staat nur in außergewöhnlichen Notsituationen wie z.B. Naturkatastrophen (Schuldenbremse sollte so bestehen bleiben wie sie ist, sie sollte reformiert werden oder sie sollte vollständig abgeschafft werden); Bewertung verschiedener Vorschläge zur Reform der Schuldenregelung (die Schuldengrenze verändern, damit der Staat generell mehr Schulden aufnehmen kann als bisher, eine Übergangsregel schaffen, sodass man auch im Jahr nach einer Notsituation noch etwas mehr Kredite aufnehmen kann als gewöhnlich, die Aufnahme höherer Schulden erlauben, wenn die Wirtschaftslage schlechter ist als erwartet, die Aufnahme höherer Schulden erlauben für Verteidigungsausgaben, die Aufnahme höherer Schulden erlauben für Investitionen in den Klimaschutz, die Aufnahme höherer Schulden erlauben für Investitionen in die Infrastruktur wie Straßen und Schienen). Demographie: Geschlecht; Alter; Bildung; Einkommenslage niedrig, mittel, hoch (Nettoäquivalenzeinkommen); Ortsgröße; Parteipräferenz bei der nächsten Bundestagswahl; Wahlverhalten bei der letzten Bundestagswahl. Zusätzlich verkodet wurde: Befragten ID; Region West/Ost; Gewichtungsfaktor.