Global Debt Overview
How much debt exists in the world?
Track global debt, government debt, household debt and corporate debt in real time and understand what it means for individuals, countries and future generations.
Debt breakdown
By sector — totals, share of global debt and year-over-year trend.
Sovereign borrowing by national treasuries to finance public expenditure and deficits.
Mortgages, credit cards, auto and student loans held by private citizens.
Bonds and loans issued by non-financial businesses to fund operations and growth.
Inter-bank lending and liabilities within the global financial sector.
If shared equally
What does this mean for you?
If global debt were divided across the world's population today, this is what each person, adult and worker would owe.
Debt compared to wealth
Global aggregate wealth still exceeds global debt — but the gap is narrowing.
Debt growth timeline
The divergence between global debt and actual economic productivity since the 1990s.
National debt leaderboard
Top economies ranked by debt-to-GDP.
| # | Country | Debt / person | Debt to GDP | Total debt | 5Y growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | 🇯🇵 Japan | $151,647 | 263.9% | $18.9T | +2.1% |
| 02 | 🇸🇬 Singapore | $269,661 | 167.9% | $1.6T | +1.2% |
| 03 | 🇮🇹 Italy | $93,379 | 134.8% | $5.5T | +4.5% |
| 04 | 🇺🇸 United States | $194,328 | 122.3% | $65.1T | +18.4% |
| 05 | 🇫🇷 France | $125,191 | 112.0% | $8.2T | +11.7% |
| 06 | 🇨🇦 Canada | $179,551 | 107.4% | $7.2T | +14.2% |
| 07 | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | $123,894 | 101.1% | $8.4T | +12.8% |
| 08 | 🇨🇳 China | $38,085 | 83.6% | $53.7T | +41.2% |
Interesting statistics
Across all sectors, every 24 hours.
Approximately, based on annualised growth.
If every dollar of global tax revenue went to debt.
Total debt measured against estimated global wealth.
Debt explained
What is government debt?
Money borrowed by national treasuries — typically through bonds — to cover the gap between tax revenue and public spending.
What is household debt?
The combined liabilities of private citizens: mortgages, credit cards, auto loans and student debt.
What is corporate debt?
Bonds and loans issued by non-financial businesses to fund operations, capital investment or share buybacks.
What is debt to GDP?
A ratio comparing a country's total debt to the size of its economy — a rough measure of how easily it can service that debt.
Can countries go bankrupt?
Sovereign defaults happen — Argentina, Greece, Sri Lanka — but countries that issue debt in their own currency rarely default outright; they inflate, restructure or roll.
Understand the world's debt in 5 minutes per week
Weekly briefings on debt movements, country rankings and economic statistics.
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