Global debt refers to the total amount of money owed by all sectors, including governments, businesses, and households worldwide.^[1]

As of 2022^[update], globaldebt was the equivalent of 305 trillionUSD. This includes debt by both public and privatedebtors.^[2] The totalexternal debt owed by public and private debtors tocreditors in other countries amounted to $76 trillion in 2019.^[3] The global debt continues to grow. Between 2015 and 2019 global debt increased by approximately 6% per year.^[4][5] According theInternational Monetary Fund in September 2025 total global debt was equivalent to 235 percent of global gross domestic product, of which 93% wasgovernment debt and 143% wasprivate debt made up ofHousehold debt and non-financialCorporate debt.^[6]

Explanation of the table:

Public debt % of GDP: This is the totaldomestic andexternal debt of the government and its institutions as percent of thegross domestic product of the country.

Private debt % of GDP: This is the total domestic and external debt of the citizens and private companies as percent of thegross domestic product of the country.

External debt: This is the total debt of public and privatedebtors to foreign country banks and other foreigncreditors. The amounts are in billion US $, calculated by the officialexchange rate (a billion is defined here as a thousand millions, or 10⁹).

GDP:Gross domestic product, billion US $.

Total debt, billion $: This is the sum of all debt, domestic and external, owed by public and private debtors in the country. The amounts are in billion US $, calculated by the official exchange rate.

Money supply, billion $: This is thesupply ofbroad money, or money in circulation, of the country in its owncurrency. The amounts are in billion US $, calculated by the official exchange rate.

Disclaimer:Most values are from 2020 or 2021. Some values are a few years older. Values from different sources may not have been calculated in the same way. You cannot expect the table to be updated every year because some information is difficult to find and nobody has volunteered to keep the table up to date.

Data sources:

Public debt:IMF global debt database. Data for 2020.^[7]

Private debt:IMF global debt database. Data for 2020.^[7]

External debt:Data for Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Rep., Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, North and South Korea, Kuwait, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Namibia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Oman, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, USA, Uruguay, European Union, and World are fromthe CIA world factbook with data from 2019.^[3] All other data are from theWorld bank with data for 2020.^[8]

GDP: Most data are fromIMF World Economic Outlook Database, 2022.^[9] Data for Afghanistan, Cuba, Lebanon, Pakistan, Syria, Ukraine, and World are from theWorld bank with data for 2020 or 2021.^[8] The data for North Korea are copied fromEconomy of North Korea.

The money supply data are from theWorld bank with data for 2020.^[8]

There is more debt in the world than there is money in circulation.^[10] The ratio of total debt tomoney supply ranges from 1.7 inJapan andSwitzerland to 4.7 inDenmark andIceland. The ratio for the world total is 1.8, according to the above table. A high ratio of public debt to money cannot be sustained, according to some models.^[11] Economists prefer to look at theratio of debt to the GDP. This ratio ranges from 1.5 inLatvia to 5.0 inLuxembourg. The world total is 3.5, according to theInstitute of International Finance.^[5]

The reason why there is more debt than money in circulation can be explained by thecreation of credit money. When a bank issues a loan, it createscredit money and debt at the same time. The total debt in society and the total money in circulation are both increased by the same amount, which is theprincipal of the loan. By the time the loan has to be paid back, the debt has been increased by thecompound interest while the credit money has not been increased. Most of the excess debt thus originates from compound interest of bank credit.^[12][13]

It may seem impossible to repay all debt when there is more debt than money in the world, but it is theoretically possible to pay back all debt if the banks spend their income from interest payments to buy products and services so that the same money cancirculate and be reused for more interest payments. However, critics fear that too much money ishoarded in thefinancial economy rather than spent in thereal economy so that the total debt is spiraling up rather than being paid down.^[14][15] In fact, the global debt has grown by approximately 6% per year during the period from 2015 to 2021.^[4][5]

The debt may be paid down if the rate ofeconomic growth exceeds theinterest rate.^[13] However, this is unlikely to happen as long as therate of return oncapitalinvestment is greater than the rate ofeconomic growth.^[16] A further reason why this is unrealistic is, asenvironmentalists argue, that perpetual growth on a finite planet isnot sustainable.^[13][17][18]

The debt may be undermined if theinflation rate exceeds the interest rate,^[19] but inflation also raises the prices ofreal estate and otherassets, resulting in more new debt to finance housing costs.^[14] A high inflation rate leads to lowconsumer confidence, highunemployment, andeconomic instability.^[13][20]

The fast growing debt is a consequence of the currentfinancial system that leads to an unbalanced and uncontrolled growth of money and debt.^[13][21] There is a distorted balance between public and private interests with insufficient democratic accountability, according to aDutch government report.^[20] A high level of debt makes the economy unstable with risks ofeconomic crises.^[12][13] The consequences of recurrent crises has been described as unfair because a disproportionate share of the benefits during a financial boom goes to thefinancial sector, while the general public bears the costs during the subsequent bust in the form ofbankruptcies,bank bailouts,unemployment, andhome evictions.^[20] For example, farmers in India are being forced to sell their farm and land because of inescapable debt (seeFarmers' suicides in India).^[22]

External debt consists of government debt to foreign countries as well as private debt in foreigncurrencies. External debt is different from domestic debt because it affects thetrade balance. Interest payments and inflation contribute negatively to the trade balance of the debtor country, while it provides a surplus to the creditor country or the country that issues the currency.^[13] While the government can control the internal debt through itsmonetary policy andfiscal policy, it has fewer means to control the external debt.^[13] A high external debt can lead tosovereign default, especially for poor countries with limitedexport.^[12]

The growing level of unserviceable external debt in poor countries is producing adependent relationship between debtor and creditor countries. Critics claim that this debt dependence is often used asleverage for aneocolonial relationship.^[23][24] This view is opposed bydevelopment economists who find a beneficial effect of the inflow of foreign capital, whether in the form ofdirect investment or loans.^[25]

Private banks earn rents from the circulation of money because most of the money in circulation originates from bank credit.^[26] An imbalance results if money created in one country is used for circulation in another country.Currency substitution, i.e. payment in foreign currencies, is common in countries with aweak currency.^[27] As far as the currency that circulates internationally originates from bank credit, it provides aseigniorage profit and an interestrent in the country where the money is created and a corresponding trade deficit for the country where the currency is circulating or stored.^[28][29] This exacerbates the situation in poor countries, making them vulnerable to increasing external debt, inflation, and economic crises.^[30]

Similar problems appear in countries that do not have their own currency. For example, the high external debt andfinancial crises ofGreece,Italy,Spain, and several otherEurozone countries in the aftermath of the2008 financial crisis was partially due to their lack of monetary autonomy and inability to control the money supply.^[12]

• Debt clock
• Debt crisis
• Debt of developing countries
• List of countries by corporate debt
• List of countries by external debt
• List of countries by household debt
• List of countries by government debt
• List of countries by financial assets
• List of countries by credit rating
• Corporate debt bubble
• The Age of Debt Bubbles

• Debt

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