Countries With the Most National Debt Per Capita (2025)

National debt is one of the most misunderstood ideas in economics. Unlike household debt, which must eventually be repaid by the person who borrowed, government debt can in principle be rolled over indefinitely, as long as lenders stay willing to refinance it at manageable interest rates. Japan has carried gross government debt above 200% of GDP for years without a debt crisis, while several emerging economies have defaulted at far lower ratios.

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The difference is rarely the size of the debt alone. It is the currency the debt is issued in, the depth of domestic savings, whether the central bank can act as a lender of last resort, who owns the bonds, and lenders' confidence that the government will manage its budget over time.

This ranking calculates gross general government debt per person: the IMF's gross debt-to-GDP ratio multiplied by the IMF's nominal GDP per capita in US dollars, both for 2024. It then puts those figures next to the debt-to-GDP ratio, which is the measure economists actually use when judging fiscal risk.

Key takeaways

• Among 28 high-income economies we computed from IMF data for 2024, Singapore has the highest gross government debt per person (about $157,000), but its borrowing is not used to fund the budget and is matched by invested assets.
• The United States is second at about $106,000 per person, with gross debt of 122.3% of GDP; the dollar's role as the main reserve currency keeps global demand for Treasuries deep.
• Japan has the highest debt-to-GDP ratio in the group (213.6%) but ranks only third per person (about $73,000), because a weak yen has shrunk its GDP per capita measured in dollars.
• Per-capita debt mostly mirrors national income. Rich countries owe more per person in dollars; that does not make them riskier.
• Eurozone members such as Greece and Italy face tighter constraints than Japan or the US because they borrow in a currency their own central bank does not control.

Top 20 Countries by Gross Government Debt Per Capita (2024 data)

The table covers 28 high-income economies; the top 20 are shown. Debt per capita is our calculation (debt-to-GDP × GDP per capita), rounded to the nearest $100. Very small states and territories were not included in the comparison set.

Rank	Country	Gross debt per person (USD, 2024)	Gross debt, % of GDP (2024)	GDP per person (USD, 2024)	Currency	Source
1	Singapore	~$157,300	165.8%	$94,900	Own (SGD)	IMF WEO, 2024
2	United States	~$105,700	122.3%	$86,400	Own (reserve)	IMF WEO, 2024
3	Japan	~$72,500	213.6%	$34,000	Own (JPY)	IMF WEO, 2024
4	Canada	~$60,700	110.0%	$55,200	Own (CAD)	IMF WEO, 2024
5	Belgium	~$59,000	103.9%	$56,800	Euro	IMF WEO, 2024
6	Italy	~$54,400	134.7%	$40,400	Euro	IMF WEO, 2024
7	United Kingdom	~$53,300	99.4%	$53,600	Own (GBP)	IMF WEO, 2024
8	Iceland	~$52,300	60.5%	$86,500	Own (ISK)	IMF WEO, 2024
9	France	~$52,100	112.6%	$46,300	Euro	IMF WEO, 2024
10	Norway	~$47,400	52.8%	$89,700	Own (NOK)	IMF WEO, 2024
11	Austria	~$46,700	80.0%	$58,400	Euro	IMF WEO, 2024
12	Switzerland	~$44,100	40.4%	$109,100	Own (CHF)	IMF WEO, 2024
13	Finland	~$44,000	82.5%	$53,300	Euro	IMF WEO, 2024
14	Ireland	~$43,100	38.4%	$112,200	Euro	IMF WEO, 2024
15	Bahrain	~$39,700	133.7%	$29,700	Own (pegged)	IMF WEO, 2024
16	Greece	~$38,400	155.4%	$24,700	Euro	IMF WEO, 2024
17	Israel	~$36,800	67.7%	$54,300	Own (ILS)	IMF WEO, 2024
18	Luxembourg	~$36,500	26.3%	$138,800	Euro	IMF WEO, 2024
19	Spain	~$35,700	101.4%	$35,200	Euro	IMF WEO, 2024
20	Germany	~$34,900	61.4%	$56,800	Euro	IMF WEO, 2024

Sources: IMF World Economic Outlook DataMapper, general government gross debt (% of GDP) and GDP per capita, current prices (USD), 2024 values, accessed October 2026. Per-capita debt is our calculation.

For context, the other eight economies in the comparison set came in below Germany: Australia ($33,400; 50.9% of GDP), the Netherlands ($29,600; 44.0%), Portugal ($27,400; 93.5%), New Zealand ($25,200; 51.4%), Denmark ($21,700; 29.9%), Sweden ($19,500; 33.9%), South Korea ($18,000; 49.6%) and Argentina ($11,500; 84.6%). The IMF's 2024 figure for the advanced-economy group as a whole is 107.4% of GDP, and for the world 91.9%.

What changed from earlier versions of this ranking

An earlier version of this page listed Japan at about 260% of GDP and roughly $105,000 per person. Both numbers were out of date. Japan's gross debt ratio has come down since the pandemic peak as nominal GDP rose with inflation, and the yen's sharp fall against the dollar after 2022 cut the dollar value of everything measured in yen, debt included. The same mechanism works in reverse for countries whose currencies strengthen. That is the first lesson of any per-capita debt table: a big part of the ranking is exchange rates, not borrowing.

How to read this table: four distinctions that matter

Debt statistics are easy to misuse because several different numbers all get called "national debt." Before comparing countries, it helps to be clear about which one is on the page.

Government debt vs total debt

This ranking covers general government debt: what central, state and local governments and social security funds owe. It excludes the debt of households, companies and banks. Total debt in an economy is much larger. The IMF's own Global Debt Database tracks private debt separately, and for many countries household and corporate borrowing exceeds public borrowing. If you are interested in mortgages and consumer credit, see our separate ranking of countries with the highest household debt. A country can have modest public debt and a fragile private sector, as Ireland and Spain showed before 2008, when private property lending, not government borrowing, drove the crisis that later landed on public balance sheets.

Gross vs net debt

Gross debt counts all liabilities. Net debt subtracts the financial assets the government holds against them, such as cash, deposits, loans it has made and securities in social-security or sovereign funds. The gap can be enormous. Norway's government owns one of the world's largest sovereign wealth funds, so its net financial position is strongly positive even though it shows up at 52.8% gross. Singapore is an even sharper case, discussed below. Japan's government also holds sizeable financial assets, which is why its net debt ratio is well below its gross ratio. Rankings that use gross debt alone will always make asset-rich states look more indebted than they are.

Per capita vs percent of GDP

Debt per person tells you how much each resident would owe if the debt were divided equally. That is an intuitive number, but it mostly measures how rich a country is. A wealthy country has a larger tax base per person, earns more per person, and can carry more debt per person. Debt-to-GDP compares debt with the economy's annual output, which is closer to the capacity to service it. Our explainer on what GDP is and why it matters covers why output is the denominator economists prefer. Luxembourg shows the effect clearly: at only 26.3% of GDP it still ranks 18th per person, because its GDP per capita is the highest in the group.

Market prices, exchange rates and the year

All figures here are in current US dollars at market exchange rates. When the dollar is strong, every other country's debt per person looks smaller in dollar terms, without a single bond being issued or repaid. The IMF also revises historical figures when countries update national accounts, so numbers from different editions of the World Economic Outlook are not perfectly comparable. Every figure on this page is a 2024 value from the same IMF dataset, so the comparison within the table is consistent.

Why Singapore tops the list but is not a debt risk

Singapore's gross government debt of 165.8% of GDP looks alarming next to European ratios. The explanation is legal and accounting structure, not overspending. According to Singapore's Accountant-General's Department and Ministry of Finance, the government does not borrow to fund its budget. It issues three main kinds of securities:

• Singapore Government Securities (SGS, marketable), issued to build a deep local bond market and provide a risk-free benchmark yield.
• Special Singapore Government Securities (SSGS), non-tradable bonds issued to the Central Provident Fund (CPF) Board, the national pension and savings system, so that members' balances are invested safely.
• Singapore Savings Bonds, sold to retail savers.

Under Singapore's Government Securities Act, proceeds from these securities cannot be spent; they are invested as part of the reserves, and the official position is that investment returns cover the cost of servicing them. A separate law covers borrowing for nationally significant infrastructure such as long-lived rail projects. In other words, most of Singapore's gross debt is the mirror image of its residents' pension savings and is backed by larger assets. A per-capita debt ranking that puts Singapore first is technically correct and economically misleading, which is exactly why net debt and asset positions matter.

The United States: the reserve-currency exception

The United States carries about $106,000 in gross general government debt per person, at 122.3% of GDP in 2024. That ratio is high by historical standards for a peacetime economy, and US federal deficits have stayed large outside of recessions. What sets the United States apart is the dollar.

According to the IMF's Currency Composition of Official Foreign Exchange Reserves (COFER) data, the US dollar made up 56.92% of global official foreign-exchange reserves in the third quarter of 2025, down slightly from 57.08% in the second quarter. The euro was a distant second. Central banks, sovereign funds, banks and companies around the world hold US Treasury securities as their safest and most liquid asset, which creates steady structural demand for American government debt.

That privilege is real but not unconditional. The dollar's reserve share has drifted down over two decades. Repeated political standoffs over the statutory debt limit have led credit-rating agencies to lower the US sovereign rating from the top grade. And as interest rates rose after 2022, net interest became one of the fastest-growing lines in the federal budget, because old low-rate debt is gradually refinanced at higher yields. For how those yields interact with existing bonds, see how bond prices move with interest rates.

Japan: the highest ratio, held at home

Japan has the highest debt-to-GDP ratio in our comparison group, 213.6% gross in 2024, yet its government has never faced the kind of funding crisis that hit Greece. The structural reasons are well documented.

Domestic ownership. According to Japan's Ministry of Finance, using Bank of Japan flow-of-funds data for June 2026 (preliminary), the Bank of Japan alone held 46.7% of Japanese government bonds (470.0 trillion yen of 1,006.5 trillion yen), and foreign investors held 7.9%. Including short-term Treasury bills, the foreign share was 13.1%. Domestic banks, insurers and pension funds hold most of the rest. A creditor base that is overwhelmingly domestic and denominated in yen is far less likely to stage a sudden exit.

Its own currency. Japan's debt is issued in yen and its central bank sets yen interest rates. It can never be forced to default for lack of a currency it cannot create, though excessive money creation would carry an inflation cost.

Years of ultra-low rates. From 2016 the Bank of Japan ran "yield curve control," holding the 10-year yield near zero and buying bonds in vast amounts. That suppressed debt-service costs for years.

The picture is changing. Since inflation returned, the Bank of Japan has ended negative rates, retired yield curve control and slowed its bond purchases, which is why its share of holdings has started to fall from above 50%. As the central bank steps back, private and foreign buyers must absorb more bonds, and the yields they demand set the government's future borrowing costs. Japan's case shows that a high ratio can be sustained for a long time under the right conditions; it does not show that it can be sustained under any conditions.

The eurozone: borrowing in a shared currency

Greece, Italy, France, Belgium and Spain all carried gross debt above 100% of GDP in 2024. Their situation differs from Japan's or the United States' because they use the euro, a currency managed by the European Central Bank rather than by any single national government. A eurozone member cannot devalue to regain competitiveness, cannot direct its central bank to buy its bonds, and has no national lender of last resort in the way the Bank of Japan or the Federal Reserve can be.

Greece showed the consequences. When markets lost confidence in Greek public finances in 2010, borrowing costs soared and Greece lost access to market financing. It received successive rescue programs from euro-area governments and the IMF, in exchange for deep spending cuts and tax rises, and in 2012 private bondholders accepted a large write-down in the biggest sovereign debt restructuring on record at the time. Greek output fell by roughly a quarter from its 2007 peak before stabilizing, according to data highlighted by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Greece's gross debt was still 155.4% of GDP in 2024, but much of it is long-dated, low-interest loans from European official lenders, which makes the annual cost far lower than the headline ratio suggests.

Italy is the most systemically important case. At 134.7% of GDP in 2024 and about $54,400 per person, Italy's debt is large in absolute terms, and its economy has grown slowly for two decades. Investors watch the "spread," the extra yield Italian 10-year bonds pay over German ones, as a running gauge of perceived risk. A sharp widening would raise refinancing costs across a very large stock of bonds.

France has drawn growing attention because its deficit has stayed above the EU's 3%-of-GDP reference value and its debt ratio has risen to 112.6% (2024). Rating agencies have lowered France's rating, and political fragmentation has made budget agreements harder.

Since 2012 the ECB has built backstops, including Outright Monetary Transactions and, from 2022, the Transmission Protection Instrument, meant to stop bond-market panics that are not justified by fundamentals. Both come with conditions, and their existence has helped calm spreads even without large-scale use.

Debt sustainability: what the numbers actually mean

Whether a debt ratio rises or falls over time depends on three moving parts: the primary balance (revenue minus spending excluding interest), the average interest rate the government pays on its debt (r), and the growth rate of nominal GDP (g).

The core relationship is simple. If the interest rate on debt is higher than the economy's growth rate (r > g), the debt ratio rises on its own unless the government runs a primary surplus. If growth exceeds the interest rate (g > r), the ratio can fall even while the government runs small primary deficits. This is the same arithmetic of compound interest that applies to savings, working in reverse.

A simplified worked example shows the mechanics:

Scenario	Starting debt (% GDP)	Interest rate (r)	Nominal growth (g)	Primary balance	Debt after 10 years (approx.)
A: g > r, balanced primary budget	100%	3%	5%	0% of GDP	~82%
B: r = g, balanced primary budget	100%	4%	4%	0% of GDP	100%
C: r > g, balanced primary budget	100%	5%	3%	0% of GDP	~121%
D: r > g, primary deficit of 2%	100%	5%	3%	−2% of GDP	~143%

Illustrative calculation, not a forecast for any country. Each year, debt grows by (1 + r) / (1 + g) and the primary deficit is added.

Three points come out of this table. First, the same 100% starting ratio can lead to very different places, depending on rates and growth. Second, a few percentage points of difference compound into large gaps over a decade. Third, inflation matters: higher inflation raises nominal growth (g) quickly, while the average rate on long-dated debt (r) rises only as old bonds mature. That is one reason debt ratios in several advanced economies fell from their 2020–2021 peaks as prices rose. For the mechanics of price rises themselves, see how inflation works.

The effect is temporary, though. As maturing debt is refinanced at higher yields, r catches up. Countries whose average debt maturity is short feel that adjustment sooner than countries, such as the United Kingdom, that issued very long-dated bonds when rates were low.

What a debt crisis actually looks like

Debt crises rarely arrive because a ratio crosses a magic line. Research has tried to find such thresholds, and none holds up across countries. Instead, crises tend to follow a recognizable sequence:

1. A trigger. A recession, a banking collapse, a commodity-price shock, a revelation that official statistics were wrong (as in Greece in 2009), or a sudden political event.
2. Rising yields. Investors demand more to hold the bonds. Higher yields raise the cost of each new issue.
3. Refinancing pressure. Governments with lots of short-term debt, or debt in a foreign currency, must roll over large amounts quickly at the new, higher price.
4. A feedback loop. Higher costs worsen the deficit, which worsens confidence, which pushes yields higher still. Domestic banks that hold the government's bonds suffer losses, which can freeze lending.
5. Resolution. Central-bank intervention, an official rescue program, a restructuring of the debt, or a default.

The single most dangerous combination is high debt in a currency the government cannot issue, held by foreign creditors, with short maturities. That is why many emerging-market crises involved dollar-denominated debt at ratios far below Japan's. Central banks play a decisive role in breaking the loop for countries that issue their own currency; our piece on how central banks control the money supply explains the tools.

Comparing the main debt models

Feature	United States	Japan	Eurozone member (e.g. Italy)	Singapore
Gross debt, % of GDP (2024, IMF)	122.3%	213.6%	134.7%	165.8%
Currency of debt	Own, global reserve currency	Own	Shared (euro)	Own
Central bank can buy own debt freely	Yes	Yes	No (ECB acts only under conditions)	Not needed; borrowing not used for budget
Main holders	Mix of domestic investors, Fed and foreigners	Bank of Japan and domestic institutions	Domestic banks, ECB, foreign investors	CPF, domestic banks and savers
Main risk	Rising interest costs, political brinkmanship	Rising yields as central bank steps back	Confidence shocks, spreads	Minimal; offset by assets

Sources: IMF WEO DataMapper (2024 ratios); Japan Ministry of Finance (JGB holders, June 2026); Singapore AGD/MOF. Qualitative assessments are editorial summaries of the sections above.

Common misconceptions about national debt

"The government must pay it all back." Governments rarely retire their debt in full. They refinance maturing bonds with new ones. What matters is whether the debt ratio is stable or falling, and whether interest costs stay affordable relative to revenue.

"Higher debt per person means a poorer, riskier country." Usually the reverse. High per-capita debt tends to appear in rich countries with large tax bases and deep bond markets. Argentina, which has a long history of defaults, has the lowest debt per person in our comparison set.

"A government budget is just like a household budget." A household cannot set its own interest rate, issue the currency it earns, tax a whole economy, or expect to exist indefinitely. A government that borrows in its own currency faces inflation and market-confidence limits rather than a fixed credit limit. The analogy is useful only in one sense: persistent borrowing at rates above income growth eventually becomes painful for both.

"Foreigners own most of our debt." For Japan, foreigners hold well under a tenth of longer-term government bonds. For many large advanced economies, domestic investors and the central bank hold the majority. Foreign ownership levels vary widely and should be checked country by country.

"Debt is always bad." Borrowing can finance investment that raises future output, smooth taxes over a recession, or fund emergencies such as a pandemic. The question is not whether governments borrow but whether the borrowing is sustainable given rates, growth and political capacity to adjust.

Where this data comes from

The ratios in the main table come from the IMF World Economic Outlook database, accessed through the IMF DataMapper in October 2026. "General government gross debt" in the WEO follows international statistical standards and covers all levels of government. National definitions often differ: the US "debt held by the public" figure quoted in American news, for example, excludes intragovernmental holdings and state and local debt, so it does not match the IMF's general government number. GDP per capita figures are also from the WEO, in current US dollars. We multiplied the two to obtain debt per person.

These figures carry several caveats. They are a single year (2024) and reflect the exchange rates of that year. The IMF revises past values as countries revise their national accounts. Some governments have significant liabilities outside the standard debt definition, such as unfunded pension promises or guarantees for state-owned firms, and these are not counted. Readers who want a broader picture of sovereign debt risk can compare this table with our ranking of countries with the highest national debt, which focuses on total size and risk indicators rather than per-person amounts.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Which country has the most national debt per capita? A: Among the 28 high-income economies we computed from IMF data for 2024, Singapore has the highest gross government debt per person, about $157,000, followed by the United States at about $106,000 and Japan at about $73,000. Singapore's figure is offset by invested assets, and its borrowing does not fund the budget, so it is not a sign of fiscal stress.

Q: Why doesn't Japan's high debt cause a crisis? A: Japan's debt is issued in yen, which its own central bank controls, and is held overwhelmingly at home. In June 2026 the Bank of Japan held 46.7% of government bonds and foreign investors 7.9%, according to Japan's Ministry of Finance. Years of near-zero interest rates also kept servicing costs low, although rising yields are now testing that model.

Q: What is the debt-to-GDP ratio and why does it matter? A: It measures government debt as a share of one year's economic output. A ratio of 100% means the debt equals a full year of GDP. It matters because output is the base from which taxes are raised, so the ratio indicates capacity to service debt better than a raw dollar total or a per-person figure.

Q: What is the difference between gross and net government debt? A: Gross debt counts all of a government's debt liabilities. Net debt subtracts financial assets the government holds, such as deposits, loans and securities in pension or sovereign funds. Countries with large asset holdings, such as Norway and Singapore, look far less indebted on a net basis than a gross ranking suggests.

Q: Can a country have too much national debt? A: Yes, but there is no universal threshold. The limit depends on whether the debt is in the country's own currency, who holds it, how long its maturities are, and how interest rates compare with growth. When interest costs absorb a growing share of revenue, governments face harder choices on taxes and spending.

Q: Why do eurozone countries like Italy face more debt stress than Japan? A: Italy borrows in euros, a currency set by the European Central Bank rather than by Italy. It cannot devalue or direct its central bank to buy its bonds, so investor confidence matters more. Japan borrows in yen that its own central bank issues. The ECB has created backstops, but they come with conditions.

Q: Does per-capita debt mean each citizen personally owes that amount? A: No. The figure is an average for comparison only. Government debt is repaid, or refinanced, through future taxes and borrowing spread across the whole economy and across generations; no individual receives a bill for their share.

The bottom line

Debt-per-person rankings are useful for one thing: showing the scale of government borrowing in relatable terms. They are poor guides to risk. In the 2024 IMF data, the top three per person, Singapore, the United States and Japan, represent three entirely different models: an asset-backed borrower whose debt mirrors pension savings, a reserve-currency issuer with deep global demand for its bonds, and a domestically financed borrower with the highest ratio in the rich world. The countries most exposed to sudden stress are those that combine high debt with a currency they do not control, a short maturity profile, foreign creditors and slow growth. For everyone else, the risk is gradual: a slow climb in interest costs that narrows what governments can afford to do.

Sources

• IMF World Economic Outlook DataMapper: general government gross debt, % of GDP
• IMF Data Brief on COFER, reserves currency composition, 2025Q3
• Japan Ministry of Finance: Breakdown by JGB and T-Bill Holders (June 2026, preliminary)
• Singapore Accountant-General's Department: Overview of Singapore Government Borrowings

Related Reading

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• Countries With the Highest Tax Rates in the World (2025)
• Countries With the Most Foreign Currency Reserves (2025)
• Countries With the Highest National Savings Rates (2025)
• Countries With the Biggest Gold Reserves (2025)