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 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 2023, the gross federal debt in the United States amounted to around ****** U.S. dollars per capita. This is a moderate increase from the previous year, when the per capita national debt amounted to about ****** U.S. dollars. The total debt accrued by the U.S. annually can be accessed here. Federal debt of the United States The level of national debt held by the United States government has risen sharply in the years following the Great Recession. Federal debt is the amount of debt the federal government owes to creditors who hold assets in the form of debt securities. As with individuals and consumers, there is a common consensus among economists that holding debt is not necessarily problematic for government so long as the public debt is held at a sustainable level. Although there is no agreed upon ratio of debt to gross domestic product, the increasing debt held by the Federal Reserve has become a major part of the political discourse in the United States. Politics and the national debt In recent years, debate over the debt ceiling has been of concern to domestic politicians, the owners of federal debt, and global economy as a whole. The debt ceiling is a legislated maximum amount that national debt can reach intended to impose a degree of fiscal prudence on incumbent governments. However, as national debt has grown the debt ceiling has been reached, thus forcing legislative action by Congress. In both 2011 and 2013, new legislation was passed by Congress allowing the debt ceiling to be raised. The Budget Control Act of 2011 and the No Budget, No Pay Act of 2013 successively allowed the government to avoid defaulting on national debt and therefore avert a potential economic crisis.

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.

Argentina External Debt: Total External Debt per Capita data was reported at 0.006 USD mn in 2023. This records a decrease from the previous number of 0.006 USD mn for 2022. Argentina External Debt: Total External Debt per Capita data is updated yearly, averaging 0.003 USD mn from Dec 1970 (Median) to 2023, with 54 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 0.007 USD mn in 2019 and a record low of 0.000 USD mn in 1970. Argentina External Debt: Total External Debt per Capita data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Argentina – Table AR.World Bank.IDS: External Debt: Debt Outstanding, Debt Ratio and Debt Service: Annual. Total external debt is debt owed to nonresidents repayable in currency, goods, or services. Total external debt is the sum of public, publicly guaranteed, and private nonguaranteed long-term debt, use of IMF credit, and short-term debt. Short-term debt includes all debt having an original maturity of one year or less and interest in arrears on long-term debt. Data are in current U.S. dollars.

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.

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.

Afghanistan External Debt: Total External Debt per Capita data was reported at 0.000 USD mn in 2023. This records a decrease from the previous number of 0.000 USD mn for 2022. Afghanistan External Debt: Total External Debt per Capita data is updated yearly, averaging 0.000 USD mn from Dec 2006 (Median) to 2023, with 18 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 0.000 USD mn in 2009 and a record low of 0.000 USD mn in 2006. Afghanistan External Debt: Total External Debt per Capita data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Afghanistan – Table AF.World Bank.IDS: External Debt: Debt Outstanding, Debt Ratio and Debt Service: Annual. Total external debt is debt owed to nonresidents repayable in currency, goods, or services. Total external debt is the sum of public, publicly guaranteed, and private nonguaranteed long-term debt, use of IMF credit, and short-term debt. Short-term debt includes all debt having an original maturity of one year or less and interest in arrears on long-term debt. Data are in current U.S. dollars.

Of the G7 countries, Japan had the highest net debt in terms of share of gross domestic product (GDP) between 2010 and 2024. That year, Japan's government's net debt reached an estimated *** percent of its total GDP. Italy had the second highest debt rate at *** percent of its GDP, whereas Canada had the lowest at only ** percent.

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.

The statistic shows the 20 countries with the lowest national debt in 2024 in relation to the gross domestic product (GDP). The data refer to the debts of the entire state, including the central government, the provinces, municipalities, local authorities and social insurance. In 2024, Russia's estimated level of national debt reached about 20.3 percent of the GDP, ranking 16th of the countries with the lowest national debt. National debt and GDP The debt-to-GDP ratio is an indicator of a country’s ability to produce and sell goods in order to pay back any present debts, however these countries should not retain newer debts in the process. Many economists believe that if a country is able to produce more without impairing its own economical growth, it can be considered more stable, particularly for the future. However, the listed countries, with the exception of Russia and Saudi Arabia, are not necessarily economic first-world powers. Additionally, economically powerful countries such as the United States and France maintain one of the highest debt-to-GDP ratios, signifying that occurring debt does not necessarily damage the state of the economy and is sometimes necessary in order to help develop it. Saudi Arabia has maintained one of the lowest debt-to-GDP ratios due to its high export rates, which primarily consist of petroleum and petroleum goods. Given the significance of oil in today’s world, Saudi Arabia produces enough oil and earns enough revenue to maintain a high GDP and additionally refrain from incurring debt.

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

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

Among the Eurozone countries, Luxembourg was the one with the highest volume of household loans per capita as of the 1st quarter of 2025. Meanwhile, the Netherlands and Finland were also high in the ranking, with 59,180 and 31,280 euros worth of household loans per capita, respectively. On the other side of the spectrum, Latvian households were the least indebted.

Kenya External Debt: Total External Debt per Capita data was reported at 0.001 USD mn in 2023. This records an increase from the previous number of 0.001 USD mn for 2022. Kenya External Debt: Total External Debt per Capita data is updated yearly, averaging 0.000 USD mn from Dec 1970 (Median) to 2023, with 54 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 0.001 USD mn in 2023 and a record low of 0.000 USD mn in 1970. Kenya External Debt: Total External Debt per Capita data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Kenya – Table KE.World Bank.IDS: External Debt: Debt Outstanding, Debt Ratio and Debt Service: Annual. Total external debt is debt owed to nonresidents repayable in currency, goods, or services. Total external debt is the sum of public, publicly guaranteed, and private nonguaranteed long-term debt, use of IMF credit, and short-term debt. Short-term debt includes all debt having an original maturity of one year or less and interest in arrears on long-term debt. Data are in current U.S. dollars.

In 2023, the United States had the highest gross government debt of any G7 country, amounting to an estimated 33 trillion U.S. dollars. However, in terms of government debt as a share of GDP, Japan carries a far higher government debt load than the U.S.

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.

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.

This scatter chart displays health expenditure per capita (current US$) against central government debt (% of GDP) in Africa. The data is about countries.

Ukraine External Debt: Total External Debt per Capita data was reported at 0.005 USD mn in 2023. This records an increase from the previous number of 0.003 USD mn for 2022. Ukraine External Debt: Total External Debt per Capita data is updated yearly, averaging 0.002 USD mn from Dec 1992 (Median) to 2023, with 32 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 0.005 USD mn in 2023 and a record low of 0.000 USD mn in 1992. Ukraine External Debt: Total External Debt per Capita data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Ukraine – Table UA.World Bank.IDS: External Debt: Debt Outstanding, Debt Ratio and Debt Service: Annual. Total external debt is debt owed to nonresidents repayable in currency, goods, or services. Total external debt is the sum of public, publicly guaranteed, and private nonguaranteed long-term debt, use of IMF credit, and short-term debt. Short-term debt includes all debt having an original maturity of one year or less and interest in arrears on long-term debt. Data are in current U.S. dollars.