Replies

This is a list of countries by public debt, the cumulative total of all government borrowings less repayments that are denominated in a country's home currency. Public debt should not be confused with external debt, which reflects the foreign currency liabilities of both the private and public sector and must be financed out of foreign exchange earnings. The figures here are represented as a percentage of annual gross domestic product. The figures are of gross debt, not net debt.^{[citation needed]}

Rank	Country	% of GDP^[1]	Date
1	Zimbabwe	304.30	2009 est.
2	Japan	192.10	2009 est.
3	Saint Kitts and Nevis	185.00	2009 est.
4	Lebanon	156.00	2009 est.
5	Jamaica	131.70	2009 est.
6	Singapore	117.60	2009 est.
7	Italy	115.80	2009 [1]
8	Greece	115.10	2009 [2] [3]
9	Sudan	104.50	2009 est.
10	Belgium	96.70	2009 [4]
11	Iceland	95.10	2009 est.
12	USA	92.56	2010 est.[5]
13	Nicaragua	87.00	2009 est.
14	Sri Lanka	82.90	2009 est.
15	Egypt	79.80	2009 est.
16	France	79.70	2009 est.
17	Hungary	78.00	2009 est.
18	Israel	78.00	2009 est.
19	Germany	77.20	2009 est.
20	Portugal	75.20	2009 est.
21	Canada	72.30	2009 est.
22	Jordan	69.90	2009 est.
23	United Kingdom	68.50	2009 est.
24	Ghana	67.50	2009 est.
25	Malta	67.00	2009 est.
26	Austria	66.50	2009 est.
27	Cote d'Ivoire	63.80	2009 est.
28	Ireland	63.70	2009 est.
29	Netherlands	62.20	2009 est.
30	Croatia	61.00	2009 est.
31	Norway	60.20	2009 est.
32	India	59.60	2009 est.
33	Philippines	58.70	2009 est.
34	Uruguay	58.70	2009 est.
35	Mauritius	58.30	2009 est.
36	Malawi	58.00	2009 est.
37	Bhutan	57.80	2009
38	World	56.00	2009 est.
39	El Salvador	55.40	2009 est.
40	Albania	54.90	2009 est.
41	Kenya	54.10	2009 est.
42	Morocco	54.10	2009 est.
44	Cyprus	52.40	2009 est.
45	Vietnam	52.30	2009 est.
46	Spain	50.00	2009 est.
47	Panama	49.50	2009 est.
48	Costa Rica	49.30	2009 est.
49	Argentina	49.10	2009 est.
50	Turkey	48.50	2009 est.
51	Malaysia	47.80	2009 est.
52	Poland	47.50	2009 est.
53	United Arab Emirates	47.20	2009 est.
54	Tunisia	47.20	2009 est.
55	Brazil	46.80	2009 est.
56	Aruba	46.30	2005
57	Colombia	46.10	2009 est.
58	Thailand	45.90	2009 est.
59	Pakistan	45.30	2009 est.
60	Bolivia	44.00	2009 est.
61	Seychelles	43.90	2009 est.
62	Switzerland	43.50	2009 est.
63	Sweden	43.20	2009 est.
64	Bosnia and Herzegovina	43.00	2009 est.
65	Dominican Republic	41.50	2009 est.
66	Finland	41.40	2009 est.
67	Yemen	39.60	2009 est.
68	Denmark	38.50	2009 est.
69	Bangladesh	38.20	2009 est.
70	Montenegro	38.00	2006
71	Mexico	37.70	2009 est.
72	Slovakia	37.10	2009 est.
73	South Africa	35.70	2009 est.
74	Cuba	34.80	2009 est.
75	Gabon	34.70	2009 est.
76	Slovenia	34.00	2009 est.
77	Papua New Guinea	33.70	2009 est.
78	Taiwan	33.50	2009 est.
79	Czech Republic	32.80	2009 est.
80	Guatemala	32.70	2009 est.
81	Latvia	32.50	2009 est.
82	Macedonia	32.40	2009 est.
83	Syria	32.30	2009 est.
84	Ethiopia	31.70	2009 est.
85	Zambia	31.50	2009 est.
86	Moldova	31.30	2009 est.
87	Serbia	31.30	2009 est.
88	Bahrain	30.10	2009 est.
89	Ukraine	30.00	2009 est.
90	Indonesia	29.80	2009 est.
91	New Zealand	29.30	2009 est.
92	Korea, South	28.00	2009 est.
93	Trinidad and Tobago	26.70	2009 est.
94	Mozambique	26.10	2009 est.
95	Peru	26.10	2009 est.
96	Tanzania	24.80	2009 est.
97	Honduras	24.30	2009 est.
98	Paraguay	24.00	2009 est.
99	Senegal	24.00	2009 est.
100	Lithuania	20.90	2009 est.
101	Saudi Arabia	20.30	2009 est.
102	Ecuador	20.20	November 2009 est.
103	Romania	20.00	2009 est.
104	Iran	19.40	2009 est.
105	Venezuela	19.40	2009 est.
106	Uganda	19.30	2009 est.
107	Namibia	19.10	2009 est.
108	Australia	18.60	2009 est.
109	China	18.20	2009 est.
110	Hong Kong	18.10	2009 est.
111	Botswana	17.90	2009 est.
112	Nigeria	17.80	2009 est.
113	Angola	16.80	2009 est.
114	Gibraltar	15.50	2006 est.
115	Bulgaria	14.80	2009 [6] [7]
116	Luxembourg	14.50	2009 est.
117	Cameroon	14.30	2009 est.
118	Kazakhstan	14.00	2009 est.
119	Uzbekistan	11.70	2009 est.
120	Algeria	10.70	2009 est.
121	Chile	9.00	2009 est.
122	Kuwait	8.30	2009 est.
123	Estonia	7.50	2009 est.
124	Qatar	7.10	2009 est.
125	Russia	6.90	2009 est.
126	Libya	6.50	2009 est.
127	Wallis and Futuna	5.60	2004 est.
128	Azerbaijan	4.60	2009 est.
129	Oman	2.80	2009 est.
130	Equatorial Guinea	1.10	2009 est.

[edit] References

^ Public debt, The World Factbook, United States Central Intelligence Agency, accessed on May 23, 2010.

[edit] See also

List of countries by external debt

v • d • e Lists of countries by financial rankings

Trade	Account balance (% of GDP) · Exports (per capita) · Imports

Investment	FDI received · FDI abroad · GFI

Funds	Forex reserves · Gold reserves · Sovereign wealth funds · Pension funds

Budget and debt	Government budget · External debt · Public debt

Income and taxes	Personal income · Tax rates · Tax revenue · Wage (Average · Minimum)

Banking	Central bank interest rate · Commercial bank prime lending rate

Currency	Inflation rate · Exchange rates to US$

Lists of countries by GDP rankings · Lists of countries · Lists by country · List of international rankings · List of statistically superlative countries

Debt

Debt instruments

Bond	Debenture · Corporate bond · Government bond · Municipal bond

Loan	Usury · Consumer lending · Predatory lending · Loan shark

Managing debt

Debt management plan · Consolidation · Debt-snowball method · Bankruptcy

Debt collection and evasion

Debt compliance · Collection agency · Garnishment · Tax refund interception · Debt bondage · Debtors' prison · Phantom debt · Charge-off · Strategic default

Debt markets

Fixed income · Consumer debt · Corporate debt · Government debt · Money market · Deposit account · Debt buyer · Securitization

Debt in economics

Debt levels and flows · External debt · Internal debt · Consumer leverage ratio

Interest · Interest rate · Default · Insolvency

This is a list of countries by public debt, the cumulative total of all government borrowings less repayments that are denominated in a country's home currency.

Thanks for the posting that useful information on public debt by country. I've looked quite a bit at U.S. debt but it's useful to look at the debt of other countries in order to get some perspective. Though the U.S. debt level is just under half of Japan's, is still discomforting that we are at number 12. In addition, the following graph shows the long-run budget projections from the most recent U.S. Budget:

Projected Federal Debt, Receipts, and Outlays: 1980-2085

The actual numbers and sources for this graph can be found at this link. As can be seen, the debt held by the public to projected to rise to 829.7 percent of GDP by 2085. This is over seven times the prior high of 108.7 percent of GDP reached in 1946, at the end of World War II. In addition, it is over double the level projected in the prior budget. The projections for this year and last year are the purple and green lines in the above graph.

It is important to note that these are projections based on current law, not predictions of what will actually happen. It is likely that there will be a financial crisis, policy changes, and/or other changes well before the debt reaches such historically high levels. Still, the projections show that current trends cannot continue.