The ratio of national debt to gross domestic product (GDP) of France was estimated at about 113.11 percent in 2024. Between 1980 and 2024, the ratio rose by approximately 91.81 percentage points, though the increase followed an uneven trajectory rather than a consistent upward trend. The ratio will steadily rise by around 15.28 percentage points over the period from 2024 to 2030, reflecting a clear upward trend.The general government gross debt consists of all liabilities that require payment or payments of interest and/or principal by the debtor to the creditor at a date or dates in the future. Here it is depicted in relation to the country's GDP, which refers to the total value of goods and services produced during a year.

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.

In 2025, public debt in France represented 116.2 percent of the country’s GDP. According to the source, public debt in France is supposed to remain stable in the upcoming years. There was a substantial increase between 2019 and 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the French government's economic response to it. Since 2005, public debt in France is increasing making the country one of the most in debt of the European Union. A debt country Public debt, also known as national debt, appears to be the difference between what a government is receiving and spending in a year. It is the accumulation of annual budget deficits, which happened when the government was spending more than receiving. Public debt in France is increasing since 2007, while the debt interest expenditure amounted to more than 40.3 billion euros in 2023. France’s revenue and spending Most of French public debt is generated by the State, in comparison with the social security system and the regional and local authorities. The budget balance of the country has been negative for years and does not appear to reach a positive one in the future. France spends most of its budget on tax repayments and abatement, as well as on education and defense. In 2023, France’s government spent more than 1.61 trillion euros, whereas its revenue amounted to 1.45 trillion euros. Non-tax revenue collected by the state came in majority from dividends, while it collected 70 billion euros by levying taxes on income and 140 billion euros through VAT in 2016.

This graphic depicts the public debt of France from 2004 to 2023 as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Since 2008, the French public debt has continuously risen and reached its highest in 2020. However, since this peak of 2020, the public debt has started decreasing and was nearly 117 percent of the GDP in 2023.

This statistic shows the government debt interest expenditure in France from 2010 to 2023, in billion euros. The debt interest expenditure peaked in 2022, at **** billion euros, the highest since 2011.

Depicted is the ratio of national debt to gross domestic product (GDP) of France which amounts to approximately 116.30 percent in 2025.Fluctuating rise between 1980 and 2025Between 1980 and 2025 a total increase by approximately 95 percentage points can be observed. This increase however did not happen continuously.Continuous rise between 2025 and 2030In 2030 the ratio will stand at roughly 128.39 percent, according to forecasts. This indicates an overall increase by approximately 12.09 percentage points since 2025. This growth reflects a steady upward trend.The general government gross debt consists of all liabilities that require payment or payments of interest and/or principal by the debtor to the creditor at a date or dates in the future. Here it is depicted in relation to the country's GDP, which refers to the total value of goods and services produced during a year.

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 gross domestic product (GDP) in France from 1987 to 2024, with a projection up until 2030. GDP refers to the total market value of all goods and services that are produced within a country per year. It is an important indicator of the economic strength of a country. In 2024, the GDP in France was around 3.16 trillion U.S. dollars. Economy of France France is an economically developed nation and one of the members of the G7. France is also considered to be one of the leading countries in Europe, often seen as the second most important nation in the European Union behind Germany. France has a relatively high gross domestic product (GDP), being one of the top 10 countries with the largest GDP in the world in 2014. Despite this, the country is still ranked in the top 20 in regards to its public debt compared to its GDP in the same year. A high debt-to-GDP ratio demonstrates a country’s ability to produce and sell goods and services in order to be able to pay back its debts, however producing and selling these goods should not result in more debts. France’s national debt slightly increased year-over-year up until 2014, most notably between 2008 and 2009. Additionally, France reported a large trade deficit in 2012, a value almost 5 times larger compared to the previous year, indicating that the country is importing much more than it is exporting. This often leads to higher debts due to a need to borrow more money to produce goods.

The outstanding value of Germany's general government debt securities has shown an upward trend from 2000 to the first quarter of 2024, rising from approximately *** billion U.S. dollars to nearly *** trillion U.S. dollars. The largest increase occurred between 2019 and 2020, when government debt securities went from *** trillion to three trillion U.S. dollars.

This statistic shows the distribution of the French public debt as of the fourth quarter of 2023, by administration. In 2023, the debt generated by local and regional authorities represented more than ***** percent of the whole national debt in France.

In 2024, Germany and France were the EU countries with the highest volume of consumer loans. The outstanding value of consumer loans to households amounted to nearly 200 billion euros in Germany and 198 billion euros in France. Italy, Spain and Poland were also among the countries with the highest overall value of consumer loans. However, when considering the volume of consumer loans per capita, Finland and Luxembourg were also quite high on the list.

This statistic shows the percentage change on the previous year for general government consolidated gross debt as a share of gross domestic product (GDP) in France from 2014 to 2020. In 2020, the variation was much greater than in previous years, with a variation of almost 12 percent, resulting from the COVID-19 crisis and the budgetary, economic and financial efforts made by the State to support citizens, institutions and private companies.

This statistic shows the net debt gearing ratio of CMA CGM, the leading French maritime transport company in France, from 2013 to 2017. Thus, the net debt ratio was approximatively 1.2 in 2017 against 0.55 in 2014 .

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.

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.

In 2023, the country that issued the highest value of sustainable bonds - either from the government or organizations domiciled in that country - was the United States, with almost 100 billion U.S. dollars of fixed income debt issued. China was second, with nearly ** billion U.S. dollars, then Germany with ** billion U.S. dollars. However, it should be noted that the balance between debt for environmental and social purposes was very different between these countries, with the majority of debt issued by France being for social purposes. If just considering the value of green bonds issued (i.e. bonds issued for environmental projects), the highest issuer in 2023 was China. The European sustainable bond market Overall, Europe is the clear leader in the sustainable bond market, having issued more sustainable bonds than any other region since 2014 (including supranational organizations). Given the sustainable bonds issued over this period were for environmental causes, the European green bond market is highly advanced. Types of sustainable bonds While green bonds are the most common type of sustainable bond, there are also social bonds which raise money for social (rather than environmental) causes. In addition, there is the broader category of sustainable bonds, which are for a combination of both social and environmental causes. The category of what is a social cause is somewhat broad, however, generating some controversy. For example while China does issue a high number of green bonds, they issued a far higher value of social bonds in 2020. Much of this debt was labelled as for dealing with the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, which meant it could be classified as social bonds. This is controversial, as in many other countries debt raised for this purpose may not have been not categorized as sustainable. Some have also raised questions about whether such bonds can even be considered sustainable in the first place, given some certifications only required ** percent of the money raised to be used for causes directly related to the fight against COVID-19 (such as manufacturing medical devices, building hospitals, or scientific research).

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).

Short-term securities with a maturity date of less than *** year only comprised around ***** percent of outstanding French government negotiable debt as of the end of 2023. This is an increase from 2018, when short-term bonds comprised around *** percent of the outstanding debt. In total, there was over *** trillion euros of negotiable government debt outstanding at the end of 2023.

Private sector debt includes the stock of liabilities, debt securities and loans held by non-financial corporations, households and non-profit institutions serving households. Between 2008 and 2018, the non-consolidated debt of the private sector in France increased by almost 1.9 trillion euros, reaching its highest value of five trillion euros in 2018. France also had the highest private sector debt among all countries in the Eurozone. Indebtedness is correlated with rising income levels since borrowing allows increase in consumption and investment. Nevertheless, overborrowing exposes businesses to risk of changes in economic conditions, interest rates and inflation.

This statistic presents the breakdown of farms in France in 2020, by level of debt. That year, almost ** percent of French farms had a debt level of ******* euros or more, while *** percent had a debt level of less than ****** euros.