What countries have the largest debt in the world? Here is a list of the top ten countries with the most national debt:
Japan, with its population of 127,185,332, has the highest national debt in the world at 234.18% of its GDP, followed by Greece at 181.78%. Japan's national debt currently sits at ¥1,028 trillion ($9.087 trillion USD). After the stock market crashed in Japan, the government bailed out banks and insurance companies and provided them with low-interest credit. Banking institutions had to be consolidated and nationalized after a period of time and other fiscal stimulus initiatives were used to help reboot the struggling economy. Unfortunately, these actions caused Japan’s debt level to skyrocket.
China’s national debt is currently 54.44% of its GDP, a significant increase from 2014 when the national debt was at 41.54% of China’s GDP. China’s national debt is currently over ¥38 trillion (over $5 trillion USD). An International Monetary Fund report from 2015 stated that China’s debt is relatively low, and many economists have dismissed worries over the size of the debt both in its overall size and relative to China’s GDP. China currently has the world’s largest economy and the largest population of 1,415,045,928 people.
Russia’s debt ratio is one of the lowest in the world at 19.48% of its GDP. Russia is the ninth least indebted country in the world. Russia’s debt is currently at a total of over 14 billion руб ($216 billion USD). Most of Russia’s external debt is private.
Canada’s national debt is currently at 83.81% of its GDP. Canada’s national debt currently sits at about $1.2 trillion CAD ($925 billion USD). Canada experienced a gradual decrease in debt after the 1990s until 2010 when the debt began increasing again.
Germany’s debt ratio is currently at 59.81% of its GDP. Germany’s total debt is at approximately 2.291 trillion € ($2.527 trillion USD). Germany is Europe’s largest economy.
Name | National Debt to GDP Ratio | Population |
Japan | 237.54% | 126,860,301 |
Venezuela | 214.45% | 28,515,829 |
Sudan | 177.87% | |
Greece | 174.15% | 10,473,455 |
Lebanon | 157.81% | 6,855,713 |
Italy | 133.43% | 60,550,075 |
Eritrea | 127.34% | 3,497,117 |
Cape Verde | 125.29% | 549,935 |
Mozambique | 124.46% | 30,366,036 |
Portugal | 119.46% | 10,226,187 |
Barbados | 117.27% | 287,025 |
Singapore | 109.37% | 5,804,337 |
United States | 106.70% | 329,064,917 |
Bhutan | 103.85% | 763,092 |
Cyprus | 101.04% | 1,198,575 |
Bahrain | 100.19% | 1,641,172 |
Belgium | 99.57% | 11,539,328 |
France | 99.20% | 65,129,728 |
Spain | 95.96% | 46,736,776 |
Jordan | 94.83% | 10,101,694 |
Jamaica | 94.13% | 2,948,279 |
Belize | 92.64% | 390,353 |
Angola | 90.46% | 31,825,295 |
Brazil | 90.36% | 211,049,527 |
Republic of the Congo | 90.19% | 5,380,508 |
Antigua and Barbuda | 88.35% | 97,118 |
Canada | 88.01% | 37,411,047 |
Egypt | 86.93% | 100,388,073 |
United Kingdom | 85.67% | 67,530,172 |
Aruba | 83.57% | 106,314 |
Sri Lanka | 82.99% | 21,323,733 |
Tunisia | 81.55% | 11,694,719 |
Mauritania | 80.61% | 4,525,696 |
Zambia | 80.50% | 17,861,030 |
Dominica | 79.84% | 71,808 |
Gambia | 78.67% | 2,347,706 |
San Marino | 77.12% | 33,860 |
Pakistan | 77.00% | 216,565,318 |
Argentina | 75.90% | 44,780,677 |
Sao Tome and Principe | 74.10% | 215,056 |
Sierra Leone | 72.37% | 7,813,215 |
Suriname | 72.05% | 581,372 |
Saint Lucia | 71.62% | 182,790 |
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | 71.38% | 110,589 |
Uruguay | 71.34% | 3,461,734 |
Austria | 71.17% | 8,955,102 |
Croatia | 70.73% | 4,130,304 |
Montenegro | 70.58% | 627,987 |
Togo | 70.39% | 8,082,366 |
India | 69.04% | 1,366,417,754 |
El Salvador | 68.10% | 6,453,553 |
Mauritius | 67.50% | 1,269,668 |
Hungary | 66.62% | 9,684,679 |
Slovenia | 65.44% | 2,078,654 |
Albania | 65.13% | 2,880,917 |
Morocco | 65.11% | 36,471,769 |
Laos | 64.13% | 7,169,455 |
Burundi | 63.54% | 11,530,580 |
Djibouti | 62.99% | 973,560 |
Ireland | 62.42% | 4,882,495 |
Ukraine | 62.03% | 43,993,638 |
Senegal | 62.00% | 16,296,364 |
Ghana | 61.99% | 30,417,856 |
Maldives | 61.43% | 530,953 |
Oman | 61.29% | 4,974,986 |
Bahamas | 60.49% | 389,482 |
Nauru | 60.39% | 10,756 |
Finland | 59.88% | 5,532,156 |
Saint Kitts and Nevis | 59.49% | 52,823 |
Malawi | 59.01% | 18,628,747 |
Israel | 58.96% | 8,519,377 |
Gabon | 58.48% | 2,172,579 |
South Africa | 57.81% | 58,558,270 |
Puerto Rico | 57.70% | 2,933,408 |
Ethiopia | 57.43% | 112,078,730 |
Vietnam | 57.36% | 96,462,106 |
Guyana | 57.22% | 782,766 |
Bolivia | 57.11% | 11,513,100 |
Germany | 56.93% | 83,517,045 |
Malaysia | 56.32% | 31,949,777 |
Costa Rica | 56.15% | 5,047,561 |
Grenada | 56.12% | 112,003 |
Kyrgyzstan | 56.09% | 6,415,850 |
Niger | 55.60% | 23,310,715 |
Kenya | 55.50% | 52,573,973 |
China | 55.36% | 1,433,783,686 |
Guinea-Bissau | 54.92% | 1,920,922 |
Yemen | 54.51% | 29,161,922 |
Seychelles | 54.49% | 97,739 |
Mexico | 54.11% | 127,575,529 |
Benin | 54.00% | 11,801,151 |
Qatar | 52.74% | 2,832,067 |
Vanuatu | 52.18% | 299,882 |
Netherlands | 52.04% | 17,097,130 |
Namibia | 51.60% | 2,494,530 |
Belarus | 51.08% | 9,452,411 |
Serbia | 50.95% | 8,772,235 |
Ivory Coast | 50.92% | 25,716,544 |
Iraq | 50.25% | 39,309,783 |
Fiji | 50.22% | 889,953 |
Rwanda | 50.00% | 12,626,950 |
Trinidad and Tobago | 49.75% | 1,394,973 |
Tajikistan | 49.46% | 9,321,018 |
Samoa | 49.44% | 197,097 |
Ecuador | 49.20% | 17,373,662 |
Colombia | 49.16% | 50,339,443 |
Armenia | 47.95% | 2,957,731 |
Poland | 47.48% | 37,887,768 |
Algeria | 46.92% | 43,053,054 |
Slovakia | 46.90% | 5,457,013 |
Liberia | 46.66% | 4,937,374 |
Guinea | 45.98% | 12,771,246 |
Georgia | 45.05% | 3,996,765 |
Uganda | 44.81% | 44,269,594 |
Chad | 42.91% | 15,946,876 |
Burkina Faso | 42.47% | 20,321,378 |
Malta | 42.46% | 440,372 |
Central African Republic | 42.25% | 4,745,185 |
Dominican Republic | 41.92% | 10,738,958 |
Thailand | 41.47% | 69,625,582 |
Swaziland | 41.11% | 1,148,130 |
Australia | 41.10% | 25,203,198 |
Madagascar | 41.02% | 26,969,307 |
Nicaragua | 40.88% | 6,545,502 |
Honduras | 40.80% | 9,746,117 |
South Korea | 40.54% | 51,225,308 |
Macedonia | 40.48% | 2,083,459 |
Switzerland | 39.49% | 8,591,365 |
Myanmar | 39.19% | 54,045,420 |
Philippines | 39.10% | 108,116,615 |
Cameroon | 38.11% | 25,876,380 |
Romania | 37.99% | 19,364,557 |
Lesotho | 37.95% | 2,125,268 |
South Sudan | 37.81% | 11,062,113 |
Panama | 37.81% | 4,246,439 |
Papua New Guinea | 37.72% | 8,776,109 |
Equatorial Guinea | 37.49% | 1,355,986 |
Sweden | 37.23% | 10,036,379 |
Mali | 36.93% | 19,658,031 |
Norway | 36.75% | 5,378,857 |
Latvia | 36.66% | 1,906,743 |
Tanzania | 36.57% | 58,005,463 |
Bosnia and Herzegovina | 36.34% | 3,301,000 |
Haiti | 36.23% | 11,263,077 |
Comoros | 35.08% | 850,886 |
Bangladesh | 34.81% | 163,046,161 |
Taiwan | 33.91% | 23,773,876 |
Lithuania | 33.79% | 2,759,627 |
Denmark | 33.61% | 5,771,876 |
Iceland | 33.13% | 339,031 |
Nepal | 33.07% | 28,608,710 |
Czech Republic | 31.57% | 10,689,209 |
Turkmenistan | 30.25% | 5,942,089 |
Nigeria | 30.05% | 200,963,599 |
Iran | 30.04% | 82,913,906 |
Turkey | 29.93% | 83,429,615 |
Cambodia | 29.57% | 16,486,542 |
Indonesia | 29.29% | 270,625,568 |
Moldova | 28.82% | 4,043,263 |
New Zealand | 28.07% | 4,783,063 |
Peru | 27.18% | 32,510,453 |
Chile | 27.17% | 18,952,038 |
Guatemala | 24.76% | 17,581,472 |
Saudi Arabia | 23.71% | 34,268,528 |
Kiribati | 23.48% | 117,606 |
Marshall Islands | 23.37% | 58,791 |
Uzbekistan | 23.23% | 32,981,716 |
Paraguay | 22.37% | 7,044,636 |
Tuvalu | 21.81% | 11,646 |
Luxembourg | 21.61% | 615,729 |
Zimbabwe | 20.99% | 14,645,468 |
Kazakhstan | 20.90% | 18,551,427 |
Bulgaria | 19.33% | 7,000,119 |
United Arab Emirates | 19.20% | 9,770,529 |
Micronesia | 18.41% | 113,815 |
Kuwait | 17.78% | 4,207,083 |
Azerbaijan | 17.59% | 10,047,718 |
Solomon Islands | 14.56% | 669,823 |
DR Congo | 14.01% | 86,790,567 |
Russia | 13.79% | 145,872,256 |
Botswana | 12.78% | 2,303,697 |
Estonia | 7.61% | 1,325,648 |
Afghanistan | 6.88% | 38,041,754 |
Brunei | 2.63% | 433,285 |