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.

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.

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 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.

CEIC calculates quarterly Government Debt as % of Nominal GDP from quarterly Government Debt and rolling sum of quarterly Nominal GDP. Eurostat provides Government Debt in EUR and Nominal GDP in EUR. European Union stands for EU27 excluding UK.


Related information about European Union Government Debt: % of GDP

• 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.

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.

The average level of government debt to GDP ratios in the European Union and the Euro currency area increased rapidly following the Global Financial Crisis of 2007-2008 and subsequent recession, peaking in the Eurozone at 93.2 percent of GDP. This figure was exceeded once more in 2020 due to increased borrowing due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with the Eurozone average now being over 90% of yearly production. The debt to GDP ratio measures the stock of government debt which is yet to be paid off in relation to the Gross Domestic Product of a country or region, which is the monetary value of goods and services produced and sold in a year. This ratio gives a clearer picture of debt sustainability than by looking at the absolute value of debt, as a country with a large economy may be able to easily pay off debts which seem large in absolute terms, but are in fact small in comparison to GDP.

Key information about European Union External Debt: % of GDP

• European Union External Debt accounted for 111.1 % of the country's Nominal GDP in 2023, compared with the ratio of 118.2 % in the previous year.
• EU External Debt: % of Nominal GDP data is updated yearly, available from Dec 2008 to Dec 2023.
• The data reached an all-time high of 136.7 % in Dec 2015 and a record low of 111.1 % in Dec 2023.

CEIC calculates External Debt as % of Nominal GDP from quarterly External Debt and quarterly Nominal GDP. European Central Bank provides External Debt in EUR. Eurostat provides Nominal GDP in EUR. External Debt as % of Nominal GDP covers Euro Area 20. External Debt as % of Nominal GDP prior to 2013 covers Euro Area 19.


Related information about European Union External Debt: % of GDP

• In the latest reports of EU, Current Account recorded a surplus of 133.2 USD bn in Dec 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 External Debt reached 18,601,546.0 in Sep 2024.
• The country's Nominal GDP was reported at 4,430.4 USD bn in Mar 2023.

Graph and download economic data for Central government debt, total (% of GDP) for the Euro Area (GCDODTOTLGDZSEMU) from 1998 to 2022 about Euro Area, Europe, debt, government, and GDP.

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.

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.

CEIC converts quarterly External Debt into USD. European Central Bank provides External Debt in EUR. The Federal Reserve Board period end market exchange rate is used for currency conversions. External Debt prior to Q1 2013 covers Euro Area 19.


Related information about EU External Debt

• 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.

This statistic shows a forecast of the national debt of selected euro countries from 2020 to 2024 in relation to the gross domestic product (GDP). The national debt figures include the debt of the central state, the states, the communities and the parishes, as well as social security. In Greece, the national debt is estimated to amount 154.4 percent of the GDP in 2024.

Several European Union member states have struggled with high levels of public debt in the period since the Global Financial Crisis. In particular, Greece's debt skyrocketed during the recession which followed the crisis, culminating in a period of intense political and social upheaval during the early 2010s in which the country came close to having to leave the Euro single currency zone. Along with Italy, Portugal, Spain and France, Greece is part of a group of EU members who have seen their debt soar to a value worth over one year's aggregate production in their economies (i.e. 100% of GDP) due to slow economic growth coupled with increasing public liabilities due to the need to provide emergency support to their domestic financial systems. Belgium, while also a part of this group of high-debt ratio countries has quite different circumstances, as its debt ratio has in fact fallen since the 1990s, remaining 20 percent below its 1995 level, even after a spike due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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.

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.

This statistic shows the general gross debt of the European Union and the euro area in trillion euros from 2010 to 2023. In 2023, the debt of the European Union amounted to approximately 13.86 trillion euros.

The value of the debt per adult in Europe in 2022 varied a lot from country to country. While Swiss adults had on average over 151,600 U.S. dollars of debt in 2022, adults from Azerbaijan had a debt of 540 dollars. Meanwhile, the average volume of debt in Europe that year was almost 25,000 U.S. dollars per adult. The household debt to disposable income ratio in Europe follows a similarly varied distribution. As varied as the volume of debts in Europe are, the most common forms of debt are still very similar and they tend to include: credit cards, medical debt, student loans, overdrafts, mortgages, automobile financing and personal loans.

Key information about European Union Private Debt: % of Nominal GDP

• European Union Private Debt accounted for 78.27 % of its Nominal GDP in Dec 2024, compared with a ratio of 78.60 % in the previous quarter
• EU Private Debt contribution to Nominal GDP ratio is updated quarterly, available from Sep 1997 to Dec 2024, with an average share of 88.81 %
• The data reached an all-time high of 104.24 % in Jun 2010 and a record low of 74.22 % in Sep 1997

CEIC calculates quarterly Private Debt as % of Nominal GDP from quarterly Private Debt and quarterly Nominal GDP. Private Debt is calculated as the sum of Loans to Non Financial Sector and Households. European Central Bank provides Private Debt in EUR. Eurostat provides Nominal GDP in EUR.

France, Italy, Germany, and Spain are the four member states of the European Union with the largest government debts in absolute terms. These countries' debts range from around 1.5 trillion euros for Spain, to closer to three trillion euros for France. The absolute value of a countries debt can be a misleading indicator, as countries with larger economies and population naturally tend to have larger absolute debt burdens - therefore, to see how capable a country is of servicing or paying off its debt, it is better to look at the ratio of its debt compared to its Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

The long-term interest rate on government debt is a key indicator of the economic health of a country. The rate reflects financial market actors' perceptions of the creditworthiness of the government and the health of the domestic economy, with a strong and robust economic outlook allowing governments to borrow for essential investments in their economies, thereby boosting long-term growth.

The Euro and converging interest rates in the early 2000s

In the case of many Eurozone countries, the early 2000s were a time where this virtuous cycle of economic growth reduced the interest rates they paid on government debt to less than 5 percent, a dramatic change from the pre-Euro era of the 1990s. With the outbreak of the Global Financial Crisis and the subsequent deep recession, however, the economies of Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Ireland were seen to be much weaker than previously assumed by lenders. Interest rates on their debt gradually began to rise during the crisis, before rapidly increasing beginning in 2010, as first Greece and then Ireland and Portugal lost the faith of financial markets.

The Eurozone crisis

This market adjustment was initially triggered due to revelations by the Greek government that the country's budget deficit was much larger than had been previously expected, with investors seeing the country as an unreliable debtor. The crisis, which became known as the Eurozone crisis, spread to Ireland and then Portugal, as lenders cut-off lending to highly indebted Eurozone members with weak fundamentals. During this period there was also intense speculation that due to unsustainable debt loads, some countries would have to leave the Euro currency area, further increasing the interest on their debt. Interest rates on their debt began to come back down after ECB Chief Mario Draghi signaled to markets that the central bank would intervene to keep the states within the currency area in his famous "whatever it takes" speech in Summer 2012.

The return of higher interest rates in the post-COVID era

Since this period of extremely high interest rates on government debt for these member states, the interest they are charged for borrowing has shrunk considerably, as the financial markets were flooded with "cheap money" due to the policy measures of central banks in the aftermath of the financial crisis, such as near-zero policy rates and quantitative easing. As interest rates have risen to combat inflation since 2022, so have the interest rates on government debt in the Eurozone also risen, however, these rises are modest compared to during the Eurozone crisis.