Markets

$69 Trillion of World Debt in One Infographic

Published

4 years ago

November 14, 2019

Jeff Desjardins

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$69 Trillion of World Debt in One Infographic

Two decades ago, total government debt was estimated to sit at $20 trillion.

Since then, according to the latest figures by the IMF, the number has ballooned to $69.3 trillion with a debt to GDP ratio of 82% — the highest totals in human history.

Which countries owe the most money, and how do these figures compare?

The Regional Breakdown

Let’s start by looking at the continental level, to get an idea of how world debt is divided from a geographical perspective:

Region	Debt to GDP	Gross Debt (Billions of USD)	% of Total World Debt
Asia and Pacific	79.8%	$24,120	34.8%
North America	100.4%	$23,710	34.2%
Europe	74.2%	$16,225	23.4%
South America	75.0%	$2,699	3.9%
Africa	56.9%	$1,313	1.9%
Other	37.1%	$1,231	1.8%
World	81.8%	$69,298	100.0%

In absolute terms, over 90% of global debt is concentrated in North America, Asia Pacific, and Europe — meanwhile, regions like Africa, South America, and other account for less than 10%.

This is not surprising, since advanced economies hold most of the world’s debt (about 75.4%), while emerging or developing economies hold the rest.

World Debt by Country

Now let’s look at individual countries, according to data released by the IMF in October 2019.

It’s worth mentioning that the following numbers are representative of 2018 data, and that for a tiny subset of countries (i.e. Syria) we used the latest available numbers as an estimate.

Rank	Country	Debt to GDP	Gross Debt ($B)	% of World Total
#1	🇺🇸 United States	104.3%	$21,465	31.0%
#2	🇯🇵 Japan	237.1%	$11,788	17.0%
#3	🇨🇳 China, People's Republic of	50.6%	$6,764	9.8%
#4	🇮🇹 Italy	132.2%	$2,744	4.0%
#5	🇫🇷 France	98.4%	$2,736	3.9%
#6	🇬🇧 United Kingdom	86.8%	$2,455	3.5%
#7	🇩🇪 Germany	61.7%	$2,438	3.5%
#8	🇮🇳 India	68.1%	$1,851	2.7%
#9	🇧🇷 Brazil	87.9%	$1,642	2.4%
#10	🇨🇦 Canada	89.9%	$1,540	2.2%
#11	🇪🇸 Spain	97.1%	$1,386	2.0%
#12	🇲🇽 Mexico	53.6%	$655	0.9%
#13	🇰🇷 Korea, Republic of	37.9%	$652	0.9%
#14	🇦🇺 Australia	41.4%	$588	0.8%
#15	🇧🇪 Belgium	102.0%	$543	0.8%
#16	Netherlands	52.4%	$479	0.7%
#17	Argentina	86.1%	$447	0.6%
#18	Singapore	113.6%	$414	0.6%
#19	Greece	184.9%	$404	0.6%
#20	Austria	73.8%	$337	0.5%
#21	Indonesia	30.1%	$308	0.4%
#22	Portugal	120.1%	$289	0.4%
#23	Poland	48.9%	$286	0.4%
#24	Switzerland	40.5%	$286	0.4%
#25	Ireland	63.7%	$244	0.4%
#26	Russian Federation	14.6%	$242	0.3%
#27	Turkey	30.2%	$233	0.3%
#28	Egypt	92.7%	$231	0.3%
#29	Pakistan	71.7%	$226	0.3%
#30	Israel	60.8%	$225	0.3%
#31	Sweden	38.5%	$214	0.3%
#32	Thailand	42.1%	$213	0.3%
#33	South Africa	56.7%	$209	0.3%
#34	Taiwan Province of China	35.1%	$207	0.3%
#35	Malaysia	55.6%	$199	0.3%
#36	Venezuela	182.4%	$180	0.3%
#37	Norway	40.0%	$174	0.3%
#38	Colombia	52.2%	$173	0.2%
#39	Finland	59.3%	$163	0.2%
#40	Saudi Arabia	19.0%	$149	0.2%
#41	Iran	32.2%	$144	0.2%
#42	Vietnam	55.6%	$134	0.2%
#43	Philippines	38.9%	$129	0.2%
#44	Denmark	34.3%	$121	0.2%
#45	Hungary	70.8%	$114	0.2%
#46	Iraq	49.3%	$111	0.2%
#47	Nigeria	27.3%	$109	0.2%
#48	Bangladesh	34.0%	$98.1	0.14%
#49	Angola	89.0%	$94.3	0.14%
#50	Qatar	48.6%	$93.0	0.13%
#51	Romania	36.7%	$87.9	0.13%
#52	Lebanon	151.0%	$85.1	0.12%
#53	Czech Republic	32.6%	$79.9	0.12%
#54	United Arab Emirates	19.1%	$79.1	0.11%
#55	Ukraine	60.2%	$78.8	0.11%
#56	Morocco	65.0%	$77.0	0.11%
#57	Chile	25.6%	$76.3	0.11%
#58	Sri Lanka	83.3%	$74.1	0.11%
#59	Sudan	212.1%	$72.7	0.10%
#60	Algeria	38.3%	$66.5	0.10%
#61	New Zealand	29.8%	$60.5	0.09%
#62	Peru	26.1%	$58.8	0.08%
#63	Puerto Rico	55.5%	$56.1	0.08%
#64	Kenya	60.1%	$52.8	0.08%
#65	Slovak Republic	48.9%	$52.1	0.08%
#66	Ecuador	45.8%	$49.6	0.07%
#67	Ethiopia	61.0%	$49.0	0.07%
#68	Croatia	74.6%	$45.4	0.07%
#69	Dominican Republic	50.5%	$43.2	0.06%
#70	Oman	53.4%	$42.3	0.06%
#71	Jordan	94.4%	$39.9	0.06%
#72	Ghana	59.3%	$38.9	0.06%
#73	Slovenia	70.4%	$38.1	0.05%
#74	Uruguay	63.5%	$37.9	0.05%
#75	Kazakhstan	21.0%	$36.3	0.05%
#76	Bahrain	94.7%	$35.7	0.05%
#77	Costa Rica	53.5%	$32.3	0.05%
#78	Tunisia	77.0%	$30.7	0.04%
#79	Belarus	47.8%	$28.5	0.04%
#80	Serbia	54.5%	$27.5	0.04%
#81	Myanmar	38.2%	$26.2	0.04%
#82	Panama	39.5%	$25.7	0.04%
#83	Cyprus	102.5%	$25.1	0.04%
#84	Côte d'Ivoire	53.2%	$22.9	0.03%
#85	Bolivia	53.8%	$21.8	0.03%
#86	Tanzania	37.3%	$21.2	0.03%
#87	Zambia	78.1%	$20.9	0.03%
#88	Kuwait	14.7%	$20.8	0.03%
#89	Guatemala	24.7%	$19.4	0.03%
#90	Lithuania	34.2%	$18.2	0.03%
#91	Syria	30.0%	$18.0	0.03%
#92	Yemen	64.8%	$17.9	0.03%
#93	El Salvador	67.1%	$17.5	0.03%
#94	Cameroon	39.1%	$15.1	0.02%
#95	Luxembourg	21.4%	$14.9	0.02%
#96	Jamaica	94.4%	$14.6	0.02%
#97	Senegal	61.6%	$14.5	0.02%
#98	Mozambique	99.8%	$14.4	0.02%
#99	Bulgaria	20.4%	$13.3	0.02%
#100	Latvia	35.9%	$12.5	0.02%
#101	Turkmenistan	29.1%	$11.9	0.02%
#102	Uganda	41.4%	$11.6	0.02%
#103	Albania	69.9%	$10.5	0.02%
#104	Uzbekistan	20.6%	$10.4	0.02%
#105	Lao P.D.R.	57.2%	$10.4	0.01%
#106	Gabon	60.7%	$10.2	0.01%
#107	Congo, Republic of	87.8%	$10.2	0.01%
#108	Trinidad and Tobago	45.1%	$10.2	0.01%
#109	Iceland	37.6%	$9.8	0.01%
#110	Honduras	40.2%	$9.6	0.01%
#111	Mauritius	66.2%	$9.4	0.01%
#112	Paraguay	21.5%	$9.0	0.01%
#113	Azerbaijan	18.8%	$8.8	0.01%
#114	Nepal	30.2%	$8.8	0.01%
#115	Papua New Guinea	35.5%	$8.2	0.01%
#116	Bahamas, The	63.3%	$7.9	0.01%
#117	Zimbabwe	37.1%	$7.8	0.01%
#118	Georgia	44.9%	$7.3	0.01%
#119	Congo, Dem. Rep. of the	15.3%	$7.2	0.01%
#120	Cambodia	28.6%	$7.0	0.01%
#121	Bosnia and Herzegovina	34.3%	$6.9	0.01%
#122	Namibia	45.8%	$6.6	0.01%
#123	Malta	45.2%	$6.6	0.01%
#124	Mali	37.3%	$6.4	0.01%
#125	Barbados	125.7%	$6.4	0.01%
#126	Armenia	51.3%	$6.4	0.01%
#127	Burkina Faso	42.9%	$6.1	0.01%
#128	Equatorial Guinea	43.3%	$5.9	0.01%
#129	Benin	41.0%	$5.9	0.01%
#130	Madagascar	45.7%	$5.5	0.01%
#131	Chad	48.3%	$5.3	0.01%
#132	North Macedonia	40.5%	$5.1	0.01%
#133	Niger	53.8%	$5.0	0.01%
#134	Nicaragua	37.2%	$4.9	0.01%
#135	Guinea	38.2%	$4.6	0.01%
#136	Kyrgyz Republic	56.0%	$4.5	0.01%
#137	Mauritania	82.9%	$4.3	0.01%
#138	Malawi	62.9%	$4.3	0.01%
#139	Togo	76.2%	$4.1	0.01%
#140	Montenegro	72.6%	$4.0	0.01%
#141	Rwanda	40.7%	$3.9	0.01%
#142	Maldives	68.0%	$3.6	0.01%
#143	Tajikistan	47.9%	$3.6	0.01%
#144	Eritrea	174.3%	$3.5	0.01%
#145	Moldova	29.7%	$3.4	0.00%
#146	Haiti	33.3%	$3.2	0.00%
#147	Bhutan	102.4%	$2.6	0.00%
#148	Sierra Leone	63.0%	$2.6	0.00%
#149	Estonia	8.3%	$2.6	0.00%
#150	Fiji	46.2%	$2.6	0.00%
#151	Suriname	72.8%	$2.5	0.00%
#152	Cabo Verde	124.5%	$2.5	0.00%
#153	Aruba	84.5%	$2.4	0.00%
#154	Botswana	12.1%	$2.3	0.00%
#155	Guyana	52.9%	$2.1	0.00%
#156	Burundi	58.4%	$2.0	0.00%
#157	South Sudan, Republic of	42.2%	$1.9	0.00%
#158	Belize	95.2%	$1.8	0.00%
#159	Eswatini	35.2%	$1.7	0.00%
#160	Antigua and Barbuda	89.5%	$1.4	0.00%
#161	Gambia, The	86.6%	$1.4	0.00%
#162	Djibouti	48.0%	$1.4	0.00%
#163	Afghanistan	6.9%	$1.4	0.00%
#164	Kosovo	17.0%	$1.4	0.00%
#165	Liberia	39.9%	$1.3	0.00%
#166	San Marino	77.9%	$1.3	0.00%
#167	Saint Lucia	64.3%	$1.2	0.00%
#168	Lesotho	44.5%	$1.2	0.00%
#169	Central African Republic	49.9%	$1.1	0.00%
#170	Guinea-Bissau	64.3%	$0.9	0.00%
#171	Seychelles	56.9%	$0.9	0.00%
#172	Grenada	63.5%	$0.8	0.00%
#173	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	74.5%	$0.6	0.00%
#174	Saint Kitts and Nevis	60.5%	$0.6	0.00%
#175	Vanuatu	51.4%	$0.5	0.00%
#176	Samoa	50.3%	$0.4	0.00%
#177	Dominica	74.1%	$0.4	0.00%
#178	Hong Kong SAR	0.1%	$0.4	0.00%
#179	Brunei Darussalam	2.6%	$0.4	0.00%
#180	São Tomé and Príncipe	74.5%	$0.3	0.00%
#181	Comoros	21.0%	$0.2	0.00%
#182	Timor-Leste	6.1%	$0.2	0.00%
#183	Solomon Islands	9.4%	$0.1	0.00%
#184	Micronesia, Fed. States of	20.3%	$0.1	0.00%
#185	Nauru	58.3%	$0.1	0.00%
#186	Marshall Islands	25.2%	$0.1	0.00%
#187	Kiribati	20.6%	$0.0	0.00%
#188	Tuvalu	28.1%	$0.0	0.00%

In absolute terms, the most indebted nation is the United States, which has a gross debt of $21.5 trillion according to the IMF as of 2018.

If you’re looking for a more precise figure for 2019, the U.S. government’s “Debt to the Penny” dataset puts the amount owing to exactly $23,015,089,744,090.63 as of November 12, 2019.

Of course, the U.S. is also the world’s largest economy in nominal terms, putting the debt to GDP ratio at 104.3%

Other stand outs from the list above include Japan, which has the highest debt to GDP ratio (237.1%), and China , which has increased government debt by almost $2 trillion in just the last two years. Meanwhile, the European economies of Italy and Belgium check the box as other large debtors with ratios topping 100% debt to GDP.

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Markets

Mapped: Europe’s GDP Per Capita, by Country

Which European economies are richest on a GDP per capita basis? This map shows the results for 44 countries across the continent.

Published

1 day ago

May 6, 2024

Pallavi Rao

A cropped map of GDP per capita levels for 44 European countries.

Mapped: Europe’s GDP Per Capita, by Country (2024)

This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

Europe is home to some of the largest and most sophisticated economies in the world. But how do countries in the region compare with each other on a per capita productivity basis?

In this map, we show Europe’s GDP per capita levels across 44 nations in current U.S. dollars. Data for this visualization and article is sourced from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) via their DataMapper tool, updated April 2024.

Europe’s Richest and Poorest Nations, By GDP Per Capita

Luxembourg, Ireland, and Switzerland, lead the list of Europe’s richest nations by GDP per capita, all above $100,000.

Rank	Country	GDP Per Capita (2024)
1	🇱🇺 Luxembourg	$131,380
2	🇮🇪 Ireland	$106,060
3	🇨🇭 Switzerland	$105,670
4	🇳🇴 Norway	$94,660
5	🇮🇸 Iceland	$84,590
6	🇩🇰 Denmark	$68,900
7	🇳🇱 Netherlands	$63,750
8	🇸🇲 San Marino	$59,410
9	🇦🇹 Austria	$59,230
10	🇸🇪 Sweden	$58,530
11	🇧🇪 Belgium	$55,540
12	🇫🇮 Finland	$55,130
13	🇩🇪 Germany	$54,290
14	🇬🇧 UK	$51,070
15	🇫🇷 France	$47,360
16	🇦🇩 Andorra	$44,900
17	🇲🇹 Malta	$41,740
18	🇮🇹 Italy	$39,580
19	🇨🇾 Cyprus	$37,150
20	🇪🇸 Spain	$34,050
21	🇸🇮 Slovenia	$34,030
22	🇪🇪 Estonia	$31,850
23	🇨🇿 Czech Republic	$29,800
24	🇵🇹 Portugal	$28,970
25	🇱🇹 Lithuania	$28,410
26	🇸🇰 Slovakia	$25,930
27	🇱🇻 Latvia	$24,190
28	🇬🇷 Greece	$23,970
29	🇭🇺 Hungary	$23,320
30	🇵🇱 Poland	$23,010
31	🇭🇷 Croatia	$22,970
32	🇷🇴 Romania	$19,530
33	🇧🇬 Bulgaria	$16,940
34	🇷🇺 Russia	$14,390
35	🇹🇷 Türkiye	$12,760
36	🇲🇪 Montenegro	$12,650
37	🇷🇸 Serbia	$12,380
38	🇦🇱 Albania	$8,920
39	🇧🇦 Bosnia & Herzegovina	$8,420
40	🇲🇰 North Macedonia	$7,690
41	🇧🇾 Belarus	$7,560
42	🇲🇩 Moldova	$7,490
43	🇽🇰 Kosovo	$6,390
44	🇺🇦 Ukraine	$5,660
N/A	🇪🇺 EU Average	$44,200

Note: Figures are rounded.

Three Nordic countries (Norway, Iceland, Denmark) also place highly, between $70,000-90,000. Other Nordic peers, Sweden and Finland rank just outside the top 10, between $55,000-60,000.

Meanwhile, Europe’s biggest economies in absolute terms, Germany, UK, and France, rank closer to the middle of the top 20, with GDP per capitas around $50,000.

Finally, at the end of the scale, Eastern Europe as a whole tends to have much lower per capita GDPs. In that group, Ukraine ranks last, at $5,660.

A Closer Look at Ukraine

For a broader comparison, Ukraine’s per capita GDP is similar to Iran ($5,310), El Salvador ($5,540), and Guatemala ($5,680).

According to experts, Ukraine’s economy has historically underperformed to expectations. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the economy contracted for five straight years. Its transition to a Western, liberalized economic structure was overshadowed by widespread corruption, a limited taxpool, and few revenue sources.

Politically, its transformation from authoritarian regime to civil democracy has proved difficult, especially when it comes to institution building.

Finally, after the 2022 invasion of the country, Ukraine’s GDP contracted by 30% in a single year—the largest loss since independence. Large scale emigration—to the tune of six million refugees—is also playing a role.

Despite these challenges, the country’s economic growth has somewhat stabilized while fighting continues.