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

U.S. Debt Interest Payments Reach $1 Trillion

U.S. debt interest payments have surged past the $1 trillion dollar mark, amid high interest rates and an ever-expanding debt burden.

Published

2 days ago

April 16, 2024

Niccolo Conte

This line chart shows U.S. debt interest payments over modern history.

U.S. Debt Interest Payments Reach $1 Trillion

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.

The cost of paying for America’s national debt crossed the $1 trillion dollar mark in 2023, driven by high interest rates and a record $34 trillion mountain of debt.

Over the last decade, U.S. debt interest payments have more than doubled amid vast government spending during the pandemic crisis. As debt payments continue to soar, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reported that debt servicing costs surpassed defense spending for the first time ever this year.

This graphic shows the sharp rise in U.S. debt payments, based on data from the Federal Reserve.

A $1 Trillion Interest Bill, and Growing

Below, we show how U.S. debt interest payments have risen at a faster pace than at another time in modern history:

Date	Interest Payments	U.S. National Debt
2023	$1.0T	$34.0T
2022	$830B	$31.4T
2021	$612B	$29.6T
2020	$518B	$27.7T
2019	$564B	$23.2T
2018	$571B	$22.0T
2017	$493B	$20.5T
2016	$460B	$20.0T
2015	$435B	$18.9T
2014	$442B	$18.1T
2013	$425B	$17.2T
2012	$417B	$16.4T
2011	$433B	$15.2T
2010	$400B	$14.0T
2009	$354B	$12.3T
2008	$380B	$10.7T
2007	$414B	$9.2T
2006	$387B	$8.7T
2005	$355B	$8.2T
2004	$318B	$7.6T
2003	$294B	$7.0T
2002	$298B	$6.4T
2001	$318B	$5.9T
2000	$353B	$5.7T
1999	$353B	$5.8T
1998	$360B	$5.6T
1997	$368B	$5.5T
1996	$362B	$5.3T
1995	$357B	$5.0T
1994	$334B	$4.8T
1993	$311B	$4.5T
1992	$306B	$4.2T
1991	$308B	$3.8T
1990	$298B	$3.4T
1989	$275B	$3.0T
1988	$254B	$2.7T
1987	$240B	$2.4T
1986	$225B	$2.2T
1985	$219B	$1.9T
1984	$205B	$1.7T
1983	$176B	$1.4T
1982	$157B	$1.2T
1981	$142B	$1.0T
1980	$113B	$930.2B
1979	$96B	$845.1B
1978	$84B	$789.2B
1977	$69B	$718.9B
1976	$61B	$653.5B
1975	$55B	$576.6B
1974	$50B	$492.7B
1973	$45B	$469.1B
1972	$39B	$448.5B
1971	$36B	$424.1B
1970	$35B	$389.2B
1969	$30B	$368.2B
1968	$25B	$358.0B
1967	$23B	$344.7B
1966	$21B	$329.3B

Interest payments represent seasonally adjusted annual rate at the end of Q4.

At current rates, the U.S. national debt is growing by a remarkable $1 trillion about every 100 days, equal to roughly $3.6 trillion per year.

As the national debt has ballooned, debt payments even exceeded Medicaid outlays in 2023—one of the government’s largest expenditures. On average, the U.S. spent more than $2 billion per day on interest costs last year. Going further, the U.S. government is projected to spend a historic $12.4 trillion on interest payments over the next decade, averaging about $37,100 per American.

Exacerbating matters is that the U.S. is running a steep deficit, which stood at $1.1 trillion for the first six months of fiscal 2024. This has accelerated due to the 43% increase in debt servicing costs along with a $31 billion dollar increase in defense spending from a year earlier. Additionally, a $30 billion increase in funding for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in light of the regional banking crisis last year was a major contributor to the deficit increase.

Overall, the CBO forecasts that roughly 75% of the federal deficit’s increase will be due to interest costs by 2034.