Top 100 Countries by Government Debt-to-GDP (%), 2025
This page ranks countries by general government gross debt as a share of GDP (Debt-to-GDP). It is one of the fastest ways to compare fiscal “weight” across economies, but it is not a standalone verdict on risk. A high ratio can be sustainable in a stable, high-income economy with long maturities and credible institutions, while a lower ratio can still be fragile if debt is short-term, foreign-currency, or financed at very high rates.
What this metric is (and what it is not)
General government gross debt typically aggregates the liabilities of central, state, and local governments (and in many cases social security funds) and reports a gross stock measure rather than netting out government financial assets. In practical terms, “gross debt” is closer to the common “headline debt” referenced in fiscal policy debates, because it reflects the total obligations before considering liquid assets.
Debt-to-GDP is often used as a capacity measure: it approximates how large the debt stock is relative to the economy’s annual output. Yet it does not directly measure liquidity, rollover risk, or the political capacity to run primary surpluses when needed. Two countries can share the same ratio while having very different maturity profiles, currency mixes, and investor bases.
How to read the ranking (analyst-friendly)
- First pass: Use the Top 20 chart to locate the outliers and the Top 100 table to see the broader distribution.
- Second pass: Compare each country’s ratio to its peers (income level, region, and institutional setup), not to a single “universal” threshold.
- Third pass: Ask whether the ratio is stable. A debt ratio that is flat or declining tells a very different story from one that is rising fast.
- Context: A debt ratio is an outcome of (1) past deficits, (2) growth, (3) inflation/deflation, (4) interest costs, and (5) exchange-rate moves where debt is FX-linked.
Important comparability note: Cross-country fiscal statistics are compiled from official sources and estimates, but definitions can differ in coverage (which public entities are included), valuation, and timing. Treat the ranking as a structured starting point and then validate country-specific details in fiscal reports and statistical appendices.
Why debt-to-GDP can jump (even without “new borrowing” headlines)
Debt ratios can rise rapidly when GDP falls (recessions), when currencies depreciate (FX debt revaluation), or when governments absorb liabilities from other parts of the public sector (bank rescues, state-owned enterprise losses). They can also rise “quietly” when interest costs compound faster than nominal GDP (the familiar r − g problem), or when persistent primary deficits accumulate year after year.
Conversely, debt ratios can stabilize or fall when nominal GDP grows strongly, when inflation reduces the real value of fixed-rate debt, or when governments run sustained primary surpluses. This is why the same debt level can look manageable in one cycle and alarming in another.
What you get on this page
- Embedded dataset (no external data calls at runtime).
- Interactive charts rendered via inline SVG (no CDN chart library required).
- Top 100 table with search, sorting, and a minimum-threshold slider.
- Interpretation guide that explains sustainability vs. “headline ratio” and how to avoid common misreads.
Interactive charts and Top 100 table
Use the controls to filter the ranking. The charts update instantly. No external data is loaded at runtime: the dataset is embedded below (IMF DataMapper API response for the 2025 period).
Quick validation (automatic)
The widget checks that values are numeric, builds a country-only list (optionally removing aggregates), sorts descending, and confirms whether at least 100 countries are available for the Top 100 view.
Chart 1 — Top 20 debt-to-GDP (2025)
Bars show the Top 20.
Chart 2 — Distribution by debt bands (2025)
Bands: <30, 30–60, 60–90, 90–120, 120–150, 150+. Counts update with your filters.
Top 10 snapshot
| Rank | Country | Debt-to-GDP (%) | Band |
|---|
Top 100 countries (sortable + searchable)
Click the header to sort by country name or by debt ratio. The Top 100 limit is applied after filtering.
| Rank | Country | Debt-to-GDP (%) | Band | ISO3 |
|---|
Interpreting the 2025 debt-to-GDP ranking
The Top 100 list is a compact way to see which economies carry the largest public debt burden relative to their GDP in 2025. The ranking is informative, but it becomes truly useful when you translate a single ratio into a small set of concrete questions: Who holds the debt? At what interest cost? With what maturity profile? In which currency? And how flexible is fiscal policy if growth slows?
A country with a very high debt ratio can remain stable for long periods if it borrows primarily in its own currency, has deep domestic capital markets, and enjoys credible policy frameworks. In contrast, a mid-range ratio can become risky if the government depends on short-term refinancing, external lenders, or faces abrupt revenue shocks. That is why analysts treat debt-to-GDP as a screening variable rather than a single “danger line.”
1) Sustainability is about dynamics, not just levels
Debt sustainability is often discussed through the interaction of interest costs and nominal growth. If the effective interest rate on government debt stays below nominal GDP growth for long enough, the debt ratio can stabilize even with modest deficits. If interest costs rise above growth, stabilizing the ratio typically requires a stronger primary balance (revenues minus non-interest spending). This is one reason why the same debt level can look manageable in one global rate regime and far more challenging in another.
For interpretation, treat the 2025 ratio as a snapshot and then ask: is the trajectory rising, flat, or falling? A rising ratio over several years often signals persistent primary deficits, weak growth, or both. A flat ratio can hide competing forces (for example, primary deficits offset by rapid nominal growth). A falling ratio can reflect consolidation, strong growth, inflation effects on fixed-rate debt, or asset sales and one-off measures.
2) Composition can matter more than the headline ratio
- Currency composition: Foreign-currency debt can revalue upward when the domestic currency depreciates.
- Maturity structure: Short maturities amplify rollover risk and sensitivity to rate hikes.
- Investor base: A broad domestic base can reduce sudden-stop risk, but may still transmit stress through banks and pensions.
- Contingent liabilities: Guarantees and state-owned enterprise risks can migrate onto the public balance sheet quickly.
The ranking does not encode these features, but it tells you where to look first. High ratios deserve deeper composition checks, while mid-range ratios can become priority cases if composition is fragile or if interest burdens spike.
3) Why some countries sit at the top
Countries with very high debt-to-GDP ratios often share one or more structural drivers. Some have long histories of high legacy debt combined with aging populations, which increases pension and health spending. Others have experienced repeated shocks (banking crises, commodity collapses, natural disasters, conflict) that force borrowing during downturns. In some cases, the debt ratio is affected by measurement coverage (for example, whether certain public entities are consolidated into general government).
It is also possible to see high ratios in economies with unusual fiscal architectures or accounting conventions. That is why cross-country comparisons should be paired with each country’s fiscal reporting notes and statistical appendices before making strong claims.
4) A practical checklist for readers (no hype, just structure)
- Step A — Level: Where does the country sit in the distribution (band) and relative to peers?
- Step B — Trend: Is the ratio rising or falling in the last several years?
- Step C — Interest burden: What share of revenues is absorbed by interest spending?
- Step D — Refinancing: What is the average maturity and how concentrated are rollovers?
- Step E — Buffers: Are there fiscal buffers (assets, stabilization funds, strong tax capacity)?
- Step F — Shock sensitivity: How exposed is the budget to exchange rates, commodity prices, or growth shocks?
Methodology (what was ranked)
The ranking is constructed from an embedded dataset for the indicator General government gross debt (% of GDP) for the 2025 period. Values are read as numeric, rounded to one decimal, and sorted from highest to lowest. Where the dataset contains aggregates (regions and analytical groups), the page defaults to excluding them, because the request is explicitly “Top 100 countries.” You can toggle aggregates on if you want to compare a country against its group benchmarks.
Interpretation guardrail: Debt-to-GDP is not a credit rating. It is a ratio. Policy credibility, maturity, currency composition, interest burden, and growth prospects frequently explain more of the near-term risk profile than the headline level alone.
Primary data sources
- IMF DataMapper — GGXWDG_NGDP (Percent of GDP, WEO)
- IMF DataMapper API documentation (v1)
- IMF Fiscal Monitor — Methodological & Statistical Appendix (notes on debt data)
- IMF Government Finance Statistics Manual 2014 (definitions and framework)
- IMF glossary note on “public debt” usage in fiscal publications
- IMF Data — API resource page (SDMX access overview)
