Public Debt (% GDP)

Gross general government debt as a share of annual GDP. The ratio compares a stock accumulated over decades with a single year's income, so it does not measure immediate ability to repay.

IMF World Economic Outlook, 1995-2024. General government perimeter: central state, local authorities and social security, gross debt — assets held by the state are not netted out.

There is no universal danger threshold. What matters is the currency of issuance, the maturity and who holds it: a state indebted in its own currency to its own residents is not in the position of one indebted in dollars to foreign creditors.

Japan has exceeded 200% of GDP for years without crisis, because its debt is in yen and held by Japanese savers and its central bank. Greece, indebted in euros — a currency it does not issue — defaulted at a far lower level.