Which Countries Pay the Most Interest on Government Debt?

Which Countries Have the Most Government Debt Per Person?

A six-figure number is usually associated with a mortgage, salary, or retirement account. In two major economies, it also describes government debt per person.

Looking at debt on a per-capita basis puts enormous national balance sheets into more tangible terms. These figures aren’t personal bills, and they don’t indicate by themselves whether a country’s debt is sustainable.

Using data from the OECD, this graphic compares government gross debt per capita across countries. Figures are for 2025, or the latest available year, and are expressed in U.S. dollars adjusted for differences in purchasing power.

How Much Government Debt Is There Per Person?

The differences are substantial even among similarly wealthy economies. Here’s how government gross debt per capita compares across the countries in the dataset:

Some of the sharpest contrasts appear between major European economies. Italy’s $94,002 in government debt per person is nearly double Germany’s $47,619, while Belgium’s $82,089 is almost twice the Netherlands’ $42,114.

Across the full dataset, the gap is even wider: U.S. government debt per person is nearly 10 times Türkiye’s $11,812.

Importantly, higher debt per person does not necessarily mean a country is struggling to repay it. Debt sustainability also depends on factors such as the size of the economy, borrowing costs, tax revenues, and investor demand.

Government Debt Is Still Climbing

The large per-person figures aren’t static. Across OECD countries, outstanding government bond debt reached a record $61 trillion in 2025, up from $55 trillion just one year earlier.

That $6 trillion increase alone is larger than the annual economic output of every country except the U.S. and China. Put another way, OECD governments added roughly the equivalent of Germany’s economy to their bond debt in a single year.

Still, debt per person is a measure of scale, not a verdict on fiscal health. Countries with similar debt loads can face very different borrowing costs and repayment risks depending on economic growth, government revenues, interest rates, and investor demand.

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To learn more about this topic, check out this graphic on the world’s most indebted households.

Ranked: Countries With the Highest Debt-to-GDP Ratios

Debt can sit on very different parts of an economy’s balance sheet. In Japan, the largest burden sits with the government. In Switzerland, households stand out. And in Luxembourg, corporate borrowing towers over the size of the economy.

This graphic ranks debt across those three sectors using Q4 2025 credit-to-GDP data from the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), covering 43 major economies. The figures measure credit to the non-financial sector as a share of GDP and exclude financial corporations, so bank borrowing is not counted.

Which Countries Carry the Most Debt?

Luxembourg has the highest combined debt-to-GDP ratio in the dataset at 446.4%, followed by Hong Kong at 406.5% and Japan at 369.5%. But those totals reflect very different sources of debt across each economy.

The table below shows government, household, and corporate debt as a share of GDP for all 43 economies, ranked by their combined total:

Government debt is concentrated in Southern Europe and East Asia, with Greece (146.5%), Italy (137.1%), France (116.0%), Spain (100.7%), and Portugal (89.7%) all in the top 15 alongside Japan and Singapore (166.2%).

Singapore’s second-place government figure is not what it looks like. By law, the proceeds of Singapore Government Securities cannot be spent on the budget. Most are issued to the national pension fund and invested, leaving the state with more assets than debt and a AAA credit rating.

Household debt is concentrated among wealthy economies with expensive housing and deep mortgage markets, led by Switzerland, Australia (114.0%), Canada (100.6%), the Netherlands (93.8%), and New Zealand (91.1%).

Corporate debt is especially high in Northern Europe and economies that host multinational financing structures. Luxembourg, Hong Kong, and Singapore (127.2%) all rank among the leaders.

Only three economies rank in the top 10 of more than one column: Canada, Hong Kong, and Singapore. Canada’s government (100.2%), households (100.6%), and companies (118.3%) each owe roughly a year of GDP, which is why the country ranks sixth on combined debt without leading any single category.

Why Small Financial Hubs Rank High in Corporate Debt

The corporate column is the one to read with care. Luxembourg (358.8%), Hong Kong (240.7%), and the Netherlands (166.3%) top it, followed by France (155.8%) and Sweden (146.8%).

Luxembourg, Hong Kong, and the Netherlands are major locations for multinational holding companies and corporate treasury operations. Intragroup loans booked through these entities can therefore produce very large corporate debt figures relative to the host economy’s GDP. That makes these ratios partly a reflection of where multinational financing is structured, rather than simply the debt burden of locally operating companies.

Ireland (92.4%) has similar dynamics, which helps explain why it ranks 16th for corporate debt while sitting near the bottom for government debt (32.8%) and household debt (23.8%).

China’s 142.8% corporate debt reflects borrowing by state-owned enterprises and property developers, a load that has grown alongside the country’s expanding bond market. In sixth place, China is the only large emerging economy in the corporate top 10.

Where Households Carry the Most Debt

Switzerland’s position at the top of the household ranking is particularly notable because the country has one of Europe’s lowest homeownership rates.

For decades, Swiss tax law taxed homeowners on the imputed rental value of their homes while allowing them to deduct mortgage interest, which rewarded keeping a mortgage rather than paying it down. Voters abolished that system in September 2025, with the change taking effect no earlier than 2028.

Canada has the most indebted households in the G7 at 100.6%, well ahead of the UK (73.6%) and the U.S. (68.1%). The American figure is notable for how far it has fallen: U.S. households owed 98.4% of GDP at the end of 2007, and the country now ranks 14th for household debt while placing fifth for government debt at 116.4%.

Looking across all three categories shows why headline debt figures can be misleading. Japan’s debt is concentrated on the government balance sheet, Switzerland’s is unusually household-heavy, while Luxembourg’s enormous ratio is driven primarily by corporations. The same overall measure can therefore reflect very different economic structures and risks.

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If you enjoyed today’s post, check out Ranked: Countries With the Most Government Debt in 2026 on Voronoi.