Public debt of EU candidate countries 2023| ��ƽ��

Total general government gross debt of European Union candidate countries in 2024 (as a percentage of GDP)

Characteristic	Government debt as a share of GDP
Ukraine	95.59%
Montenegro	62.17%
Albania	58.3%
North Macedonia	56.39%
Serbia	48.61%
Georgia	38.17%
Moldova	36.91%
Bosnia and Herzegovina	34.5%
Turkey	25.23%
Kosovo*	18.43%

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Release date

October 2024

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Region

Europe

Survey time period

2024

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Estimates

Supplementary notes

* Kosovo is administered under UN Security Council Resolution 1244/99. It is recognized by 22 EU member states, but not by Spain, Greece, Romania, Cyprus, and Slovakia. Its status as an independent country is contested by Serbia.��

Kosovo is a potential future candidate but has not begun the process of negotiations with the EU.

Negotiations between the EU and Turkey have been suspended since 2021, after a decision by the European Parliament, due to issues with human rights protections and the rule of law.��

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As of 2024, Ukraine had the highest government debt of any candidate country for membership of the European Union, with its debt being worth approximately 95 percent of its gross domestic product. This debt burden was in line with the average government debt level of European Union countries, which stood at 80 percent in 2023, driven by highly indebted countries such as Greece, Italy, and France.��

All candidate countries for EU membership apart from Ukraine have relatively low levels of government debt, a positive sign for their chances of joining the EU, as the Copenhagen Criteria require that a country which joins the EU must have a stable market economy which will be able to deal with the impact of joining the union. Government debt levels of around 50 percent are common among developed countries and are not considered to be detrimental to economic progress.��