Sovereign debt
How indebted is the world, and how indebted were countries when crises began
Government debt to GDP for 195 countries since 1980, the debt level at which 249 past sovereign-debt crises actually began, and where today’s debt sits relative to that history. Debt levels are IMF; crisis dates are the same five chronologies behind the crisis atlas. This page is descriptive. For the predictive question, whether default can be forecast from fundamentals at all, see the sovereign stress test.
World median government debt, 1980 onward
The median debt-to-GDP ratio across all countries reporting each series, observed years only (no IMF forecast years). Each line is a different debt perimeter over its own country sample, so levels are not directly comparable across series: general government (IMF GDD) spans 88 countries in 2024, central government 156 countries, and the WEO gross-debt series the widest at 191.
Source: IMF Global Debt Database (Mbaye, Moreno-Badia & Chae, IMF WP/18/111) | IMF World Economic Outlook Median across reporting countries per year; sample composition changes over time. Methodology
Debt at the start of sovereign crises, by era
For each sovereign-debt crisis episode, the government debt-to-GDP ratio in the year it began. The overall median is 54.4% across 163 episodes with a debt reading, but the level has climbed sharply: crises that began in 2000 onward did so at a median of 80.7%, versus 54.4% across all history. Debt level alone is a weak crisis predictor (see the caveat below); this describes where crises started, it does not forecast where the next will.
Source: IMF Global Debt Database (Mbaye, Moreno-Badia & Chae, IMF WP/18/111) | IMF World Economic Outlook | Global Macro Database 2026_06 (Müller, Xu, Lehbib & Chen 2025) | Reinhart-Rogoff via HBS BFFS; Laeven-Valencia (2020) Methodology
Countries above the modern crisis-start line
| # | Country | Debt/GDP | Year | Above line by | Past crises |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sudan | 272.0% | 2024 | +191.3 | 2 |
| 2 | Eritrea | 260.4% | 2019 | +179.7 | none |
| 3 | Japan | 236.7% | 2024 | +156.0 | 1 |
| 4 | Singapore | 177.0% | 2024 | +96.3 | none |
| 5 | Venezuela | 164.3% | 2024 | +83.6 | 8 |
| 6 | Lebanon | 164.1% | 2024 | +83.4 | none |
| 7 | Greece | 150.9% | 2024 | +70.2 | 4 |
| 8 | Libya | 142.7% | 2017 | +62.0 | none |
| 9 | Italy | 135.3% | 2024 | +54.6 | 1 |
| 10 | Bahrain | 134.0% | 2024 | +53.3 | none |
| 11 | Maldives | 133.9% | 2024 | +53.3 | none |
| 12 | United States | 120.8% | 2024 | +40.1 | 1 |
| 13 | Zambia | 114.9% | 2024 | +34.2 | 1 |
| 14 | Cape Verde | 113.7% | 2024 | +33.0 | none |
| 15 | Senegal | 113.7% | 2024 | +33.0 | 2 |
| 16 | France | 113.1% | 2024 | +32.4 | 1 |
| 17 | Canada | 110.8% | 2024 | +30.1 | none |
| 18 | Bhutan | 107.8% | 2024 | +27.1 | none |
| 19 | Belgium | 104.5% | 2024 | +23.8 | none |
| 20 | Barbados | 104.4% | 2024 | +23.7 | none |
| 21 | Dominica | 104.3% | 2024 | +23.6 | 1 |
| 22 | Spain | 101.8% | 2024 | +21.1 | 4 |
| 23 | United Kingdom | 101.3% | 2024 | +20.6 | 1 |
| 24 | Bolivia | 100.9% | 2024 | +20.2 | 3 |
| 25 | Sri Lanka | 99.4% | 2024 | +18.7 | 3 |
| 26 | Mozambique | 96.6% | 2024 | +15.9 | 2 |
| 27 | Laos | 96.5% | 2024 | +15.8 | none |
| 28 | Jordan | 95.9% | 2024 | +15.2 | 2 |
| 29 | Republic of the Congo | 95.4% | 2024 | +14.7 | 2 |
| 30 | Portugal | 94.9% | 2024 | +14.2 | 5 |
| 31 | Zimbabwe | 94.6% | 2024 | +13.9 | 2 |
| 32 | St-Vincent | 92.7% | 2024 | +12.0 | none |
| 33 | Mauritius | 91.4% | 2024 | +10.7 | none |
| 34 | Egypt | 90.9% | 2024 | +10.2 | 3 |
| 35 | Ukraine | 89.8% | 2024 | +9.1 | 2 |
| 36 | China | 88.3% | 2024 | +7.6 | 1 |
| 37 | El Salvador | 87.6% | 2024 | +6.9 | 5 |
| 38 | Brazil | 87.3% | 2024 | +6.6 | 6 |
| 39 | Suriname | 87.2% | 2024 | +6.5 | none |
| 40 | Argentina | 85.3% | 2024 | +4.6 | 6 |
| 41 | Tunisia | 83.1% | 2024 | +2.4 | 4 |
| 42 | Finland | 82.5% | 2024 | +1.8 | none |
| 43 | Guinea-Bissau | 82.3% | 2024 | +1.6 | none |
| 44 | India | 81.3% | 2024 | +0.6 | 2 |
| 45 | Austria | 81.2% | 2024 | +0.5 | 6 |
Source: IMF Global Debt Database (Mbaye, Moreno-Badia & Chae, IMF WP/18/111) | IMF World Economic Outlook | Global Macro Database 2026_06 (Müller, Xu, Lehbib & Chen 2025) | Reinhart-Rogoff via HBS BFFS; Laeven-Valencia (2020) Benchmark is the 2000+ crisis-start median (80.7%); headline debt is the latest general-government reading via the IMF GDD-general, GDD-central, WEO fallback chain. Methodology
Highest government debt today
Top 15 countries by latest headline general-government debt to GDP. Japan leads at 236.7% yet has had no modern sovereign default: a high ratio held mostly in domestic currency by domestic savers behaves very differently from externally held foreign-currency debt. High debt is a vulnerability, not a verdict.
- 1Sudan272.0%2024
- 2Eritrea260.4%2019
- 3Japan236.7%2024
- 4Singapore177.0%2024
- 5Venezuela164.3%2024
- 6Lebanon164.1%2024
- 7Greece150.9%2024
- 8Libya142.7%2017
- 9Italy135.3%2024
- 10Bahrain134.0%2024
- 11Maldives133.9%2024
- 12United States120.8%2024
- 13Zambia114.9%2024
- 14Cape Verde113.7%2024
- 15Senegal113.7%2024
Source: IMF Global Debt Database (Mbaye, Moreno-Badia & Chae, IMF WP/18/111) | IMF World Economic Outlook Headline is the latest general-government reading; Singapore's ratio reflects gross debt issued for asset-management purposes (SGS/SSGS), not net borrowing. Methodology
Country debt profiles
Every country’s full debt trajectory, crisis history, and where it sits against the crisis-start benchmark. A few to start: GRC, ARG, JPN, USA, ITA, LBN. The headline series label (General govt (IMF GDD), Central govt (IMF GDD), General govt gross (IMF WEO, April 2026 edition)) is shown per country so you always know which perimeter you are reading.