As of 2024, the United States' government debt accounted for more than ******* of the world total. Second in the ranking was China with **** percent of the total, followed by Japan with *** percent.

In 2024, Sudan ranked had the highest public debt level in relation to its GDP, with an estimated debt almost three times larger than its GDP. The countries with the highest public debt often have a high level of economic instability, however there are also many more developed economies on this list, such as five of the G7 countries, who feature due to their high levels of national borrowing and public spending. Venezuela's public debt

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

The average for 2023 based on 97 countries was 72.95 percent. The highest value was in Zimbabwe: 3409.7 percent and the lowest value was in Haiti: 0 percent. The indicator is available from 1970 to 2023. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

I downloaded this dataset from Wikipedia. I was startled when I came across a video to realise that the United States has the highest external debt among world countries. India and Brazil lie at around 20th positions. United Kingdom's external debt is a staggering 273% of their GDP while India's is 19.20 %. Brazil's external debt is 38% of their GDP. The United States' external debt is 96.40 % of their GDP while Japan has 101 % of its GDP as its external debt.

The dataset contains the country names, their external debt, their per capita external debt, the date of entering the data and the external debt as a percentage of their GDP.

The data can be cleaned and can form an excellent use case for LLM based data analytics. The data must be cleaned. The data can be combined with other financial data of the respective countries to form a complete database of financial metrics.

Sudan has the highest public debt rate worldwide. The country was for a long time placed on the list of terror-sponsoring states by the United States, a decision that was only changed as late as 2020. Moreover, the country has been ridden by civil war since **********, and several other internal conflicts before. All these factors mean that creditors have had little trust in Sudan's ability to repay loans, and as a result, its debt rate stands at over *** percent of its gross domestic product.

This dataset provides values for PRIVATE 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.

In 2024, Japan had the highest level of total non-financial debt among advanced economies, reaching 394 percent of the country's GDP. Total non-financial debt includes government debt, as well as private and business debt. Debt of the financial sector is not included in the figures.

Commonly used datasets on the level of public debt provide incomplete country and period coverage. This paper presents a new dataset that includes complete series of central government debt for 89 countries over the 1991-2005 period and for seven other countries for the 1993-2005 period.

Description

This dataset contains current estimates of world countries based on the External Debt. it is the total public and private debt owed to nonresidents repayable in internationally accepted currencies, goods or services, where the public debt is the money or credit owed by any level of government, from central to local, and the private debt the money or credit owed by private households or private corporations based on the country under consideration.

Attribute Information

• SLNO : Rank of the country based on the Highest External Debt.
• Location : Name of the country.
• External debt (USD) Per capita : External Debt based on the Per Capita of each country.
• External debt (USD) Total : Total External Debt of the country.
• External debt (USD) % of GDP : Percentage of External Debt of the country
• External debt (USD) % of Total Wealth: Percentage of Total External Debt of the country
• Date: Date from when the Data is Available.

Acknowledgements

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_external_debt

***Photo by Alexander Grey on Unsplash

International Debt Statistics (IDS), successor to Global Development Finance and World Debt Tables, is designed to respond to user demand for timely, comprehensive data on trends in external debt in low- and middle-income countries. The World Bank's Debtor Reporting System (DRS), from which the aggregate and country tables presented in this report are drawn, was established in 1951. World Debt Tables, the first publication that included DRS external debt data, appeared in 1973 and gained increased attention during the debt crisis of the 1980s. Since then, the publication and data have undergone numerous revisions and iterations to address the challenges and demands posed by the global economic conditions.

For further details, please refer to https://www.worldbank.org/en/programs/debt-statistics/ids

Brunei Darussalam in Southeast Asia is the country with the lowest public debt rate worldwide. It was followed by Kuwait and Turkmenistan. Meanwhile, Sudan has the highest public debt rate worldwide.

Key information about United States Total Debt: % of GDP

• United States Total Debt accounted for 718.9 % of the country's GDP in 2025, compared with the ratio of 718.5 % in the previous quarter.
• US Total Debt: % of GDP data is updated quarterly, available from Dec 1951 to Jun 2025.
• The data reached an all-time high of 834.1 % in Mar 2021 and a record low of 309.4 % in Jun 1953.

CEIC calculates quarterly Total Debt as % of Nominal GDP from quarterly Total Debt and quarterly Nominal GDP. Total Debt is calculated as sum of Liabilities for NonFinancial Business, Federal Government, State and Local Government, Households & Nonprofit Organizations and Financial Business less Mutual Fund Shares. Federal Reserve Board provides Total Debt in local currency. Bureau of Economic Analysis provides Nominal GDP in local currency.

Government Debt Indicators (OECD)

Country-level Measurements of General Government Debt

By OECD [source]

About this dataset

This dataset provides key indicators regarding the general government debt of OECD countries. These figures reflect the fact that an unfortunate portion of a country’s annual budget is allocated to repaying debt, and suggest different levels of financial stability across nations. By examining this data, we can observe fluctuations in public debt levels over time, as well as how various countries compare in terms of their general government debt buckets. Featuring monthly measurements for multiple years, these data points provide valuable insight into how borrowing affects the overall financial landscapes of the countries captured. Additionally, a convenient flag code system separately gauges the data’s accuracy and credibility to ensure that only reliable readings are observed

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How to use the dataset

• This dataset contains indicators on general government debt for OECD members and selected non-members. The indicators included in this dataset are useful in measuring country-level financial stability and understanding the sources of government financing. This dataset is a great resource for researchers, policy makers, and data journalists who are interested in analyzing trends in public finances across countries.

• The data is organized by twelve columns, which include LOCATION, INDICATOR, SUBJECT, MEASURE, FREQUENCY (annual or quarterly), TIME (year), Value (in national currency units where applicable) and Flag Codes which denote the accuracy of a given value’s measurement. To access specific information from this dataset such as a values or locations associated with particular indicators such as “Gross Debt of General Government” one can use the filtering options available to select specific regions that they want to compare against each other. The results page will show multiple graphs where users can export individual numbers or view/download all datasets related to particular subgroups based on their selection criteria. Additionally users can choose to generate tables if they wish to compare numerical results rather than graphical ones since each entry shows details up until 2018 along with values published over various years when available.

• It is important that users take note of any flag codes pertaining these datasets as this indicates why data may have been missing from specific points series entries under certain conditions thus providing additional context that should be good practice for comparative analysis purposes between different countries' results for instance. Finally we recommend that advanced users download directly and read through raw csv files provided at the link contained within this description so as to better understand how variables were recorded upon original entry though always keep current standards corresponding filtering column filter selection into account prior making any graphical comparison output interpretations without confirmation further details from more authoritative sources including national treasuries departments themselves if possible beforehand nature needed since all fields contained were originally filled out just once during collection process associated source year indicated at time entry only after has been approved management group curation following validation our accuracy protocols chosen site lastly once all said taken care creating memorable finalized looks report visualizations done easier all via software programs compatible kaggle now let's get started analyzing!

Research Ideas

• Computing gender-disaggregated government debt levels to reveal systemic imbalances such as gender inequality in government spending.
• Estimating the amount of money spent on infrastructure projects by specific OECD countries over a certain period of time.
• Modeling and predicting future macroeconomic trends in terms of general government debt, for use in investment and financial planning activities

Acknowledgements

If you use this dataset in your research, please credit the original authors. Data Source

License

License: Dataset copyright by authors - You are free to: - Share - copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format for any purpose, even commercially. - Adapt - remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially. - You must: - **Give appropriate cr...

Graph and download economic data for Amount Outstanding of International Debt Securities for All Issuers, All Maturities, Residence of Issuer in All countries (IDSAMRIAO3P) from Q4 1962 to Q2 2025 about maturity, World, debt, residents, and securities.

Key information about United States Government Debt: % of GDP

• United States Government debt accounted for 120.9 % of the country's Nominal GDP in Jun 2025, compared with the ratio of 122.3 % in the previous quarter.
• US government debt to GDP ratio data is updated quarterly, available from Mar 1969 to Jun 2025.
• The data reached an all-time high of 130.3 % in Mar 2021 and a record low of 31.8 % in Sep 1974.

CEIC calculates quarterly Government Debt as % of Nominal GDP from monthly Government Debt and rolling sum of quarterly Nominal GDP. The Bureau of the Fiscal Service provides Government Debt in USD. The Bureau of Economic Analysis provides Nominal GDP in USD. Government Debt covers Central Government only.


Related information about United States Government Debt: % of GDP

• In the latest reports, US National Government Debt reached 38,040.1 USD bn in Oct 2025.
• The country's Nominal GDP reached 7,621.4 USD bn in Jun 2025.

In October 2014, the World Bank launched the new Quarterly External Debt Statistics (QEDS) SDDS database. This database is consistent with the classifications and definitions of the 2013 External Debt Statistics: Guide for Compilers and Users (2013 EDS Guide) and Sixth Edition of Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Manual (BPM6). The QEDS SDDS database provides detailed external debt data starting from 1998Q1. Data are published individually by countries that subscribe to the IMF's Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS), as well as, GDDS participating countries that are in a position to produce the external debt data prescribed by the SDDS.

Context

The Global Debt Database (GDD) is the outcome of an extensive investigative process initiated with the October 2016 Fiscal Monitor. This dataset encapsulates the total gross debt of the nonfinancial sector (both private and public) for an unbalanced panel of 190 advanced economies, emerging market economies, and low-income countries, with records dating back to 1950. The Global Debt Dataset aggregates information from diverse sources to offer a comprehensive view of both public and private debt metrics. It includes data on government debt, corporate debt, household debt, and external debt, enabling users to delve into trends, patterns, and interrelationships among different debt categories.

Content

The dataset furnishes crucial information for comprehending global debt trends. Key columns encompass the country name, inflation indicator type, and annual average debt percentages from 1950 to 2022. This dataset empowers researchers and policymakers for thorough analyses, allowing exploration of relationships between country-specific indicators and debt percentages. Through meticulous examination, users can unveil patterns in the financial landscapes of diverse economies over the past seven decades. This historical record stands as a valuable tool, providing insights into the complexities of global economic dynamics.

Dataset Structure:

This dataset (central_government_debt.csv) spanning from 1950 to 2022 comprises the following columns:

Column Name	Description
country_name	Name of the Country
indicator_name	Type of Inflation Indicator
1950	Annual Average Debt in 1950 (in %)
1951	Annual Average Debt in 1951 (in %)
1952	Annual Average Debt in 1952 (in %)
' ' '	' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' '
2021	Annual Average Debt in 2021 (in %)
2022	Annual Average Debt in 2022 (in %)

Additionally, there are four other datasets following the same data structure: general_government_debt.csv, household_debt.csv, non-financial_corporate_debt.csv, and private_debt.

Acknowledgment

The primary dataset was sourced from the International Monetary Fund. I extend sincere gratitude to the team for providing the core data used in this dataset.

Reference: Mbaye, S., Moreno-Badia, M., and K. Chae. 2018. “Global Debt Database: Methodology and Sources,” IMF Working Paper, International Monetary Fund, Washington, DC

© Image credit: Freepik

Context

The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to countries of the world for capital projects. The World Bank's stated goal is the reduction of poverty. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Bank

Content

This dataset contains both national and regional debt statistics captured by over 200 economic indicators. Time series data is available for those indicators from 1970 to 2015 for reporting countries.

For more information, see the World Bank website.

Fork this kernel to get started with this dataset.

Acknowledgements

https://bigquery.cloud.google.com/dataset/bigquery-public-data:world_bank_intl_debt

https://cloud.google.com/bigquery/public-data/world-bank-international-debt

Citation: The World Bank: International Debt Statistics

Dataset Source: World Bank. This dataset is publicly available for anyone to use under the following terms provided by the Dataset Source - http://www.data.gov/privacy-policy#data_policy - and is provided "AS IS" without any warranty, express or implied, from Google. Google disclaims all liability for any damages, direct or indirect, resulting from the use of the dataset.

Banner Photo by @till_indeman from Unplash.

Inspiration

What countries have the largest outstanding debt?

https://cloud.google.com/bigquery/images/outstanding-debt.png" alt="enter image description here"> https://cloud.google.com/bigquery/images/outstanding-debt.png