Debt as a percentage of GDP for select EU states 2024| ��ƽ��

Government debt as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for Belgium, France, Greece, Italy, Ireland, Portugal, and Spain, from 1995 to 2024

Characteristic	Greece	Italy	Portugal	France	Spain	Belgium	Ireland
2024	154.2%	134.9%	93.6%	113.2%	101.6%	103.9%	38.3%
2023	164.3%	133.9%	96.9%	109.8%	105.2%	102.4%	41.8%
2022	177.8%	138.4%	111.2%	111.4%	109.3%	103.4%	42.9%
2021	197.3%	145.8%	123.9%	112.8%	115.7%	108.7%	52.4%
2020	209.4%	154.9%	134.1%	114.9%	119.3%	111.4%	56.9%
2019	183.2%	134.2%	116.6%	98.2%	97.7%	97.6%	55.8%
2018	189%	134.5%	121.5%	98.5%	99.8%	99.9%	61.3%
2017	182.1%	134.2%	126.1%	98.8%	101.2%	102%	65.2%
2016	183.1%	134.8%	131.5%	98.1%	102%	105%	72.7%
2015	179.6%	135.3%	131.2%	97%	103.3%	105.2%	74%
2014	182.7%	135.4%	132.9%	96.2%	105.1%	107%	101.4%
2013	180.4%	132.5%	131.4%	94.6%	100.5%	105.5%	117.7%
2012	164.1%	126.5%	129%	91.7%	90%	104.8%	118.9%
2011	175.1%	119.7%	114.4%	88.7%	69.9%	103.5%	109.6%
2010	147.8%	119.2%	100.2%	86.3%	60.5%	100.3%	86.2%
2009	128.5%	116.6%	87.8%	83%	53.3%	100.2%	61.8%
2008	110.9%	106.2%	75.6%	68.8%	39.7%	93.2%	42.5%
2007	104.6%	103.9%	72.7%	64.5%	35.8%	87.3%	23.9%
2006	105.3%	106.7%	73.7%	64.6%	39.1%	91.5%	23.6%
2005	109.9%	106.6%	72.2%	67.4%	42.4%	95.1%	26.1%
2004	105.5%	105.1%	67.1%	65.9%	45.4%	97.2%	28.1%
2003	104.3%	105.5%	63.9%	64.4%	47.7%	101.7%	29.8%
2002	107.9%	106.4%	60%	60.3%	51.2%	105.4%	30.9%
2001	110.5%	108.9%	57.4%	58.3%	54%	108.2%	33.6%
2000	108.9%	109%	54.2%	58.9%	57.8%	109.6%	36.4%
1999	102.8%	113.3%	55.4%	60.5%	60.8%	115.4%	46.6%
1998	100.8%	114.1%	55.6%	61.3%	62.3%	119.2%	51.4%
1997	102.6%	116.8%	58.7%	61.4%	64.2%	124.3%	61.6%
1996	103.7%	119.1%	63.3%	60%	65.4%	129%	69.9%
1995	100.4%	119.4%	62.2%	56.1%	61.5%	131.3%	78.6%

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Release date

October 2025

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Region

Europe, EU

Survey time period

1995 to 2024

Supplementary notes

These are the seven member states with the highest debt-to-GDP ratios in the EU in 2024.

Citation formats

Several European Union member states have struggled with high levels of public debt in the period since the Global Financial Crisis. In particular, Greece's debt skyrocketed during the recession that followed the crisis (182.7 percent of its GDP in 2014), culminating in a period of intense political and social upheaval in the early 2010s, during which the country came close to having to leave the Euro single currency zone.

Along with Italy, Portugal, Spain, and France, Greece is part of a group of EU members who have seen their debt soar to a value worth over one year's aggregate production in their economies (i.e. 100 percent of GDP) due to slow economic growth coupled with increasing public liabilities due to the need to provide emergency support to their domestic financial systems. Belgium, while also part of this group of high-debt-ratio countries, has quite different circumstances, as its debt ratio has, in fact, fallen since the 1990s, remaining below its 1995 level, even after a spike due to the COVID-19 pandemic.