Government at a Glance 2025

16.4. General government gross debt

Governments take on debt when their spending exceeds their revenue, using borrowed funds to cover operational costs or to carry out investment, for example in infrastructure projects. However, borrowing carries the burden of interest payments and should be guided by careful evaluation of economic needs, infrastructure demands, social and sectoral priorities, and a balanced analysis of the potential costs and benefits. During the COVID-19 pandemic, most OECD nations expanded public spending through stimulus measures aimed at supporting individuals and businesses, leading to increased public debt levels.

In 2023, government debt across OECD countries averaged 110.5% of GDP (Figure ‎16.9). Between 2019 and 2023, the average debt-to-GDP ratio rose by 1.7 percentage points. Despite this overall increase, 19 out of the 36 countries with available data recorded declines in their debt levels. The most significant reductions occurred in Portugal (30.3 percentage points), Ireland (22.6 p.p.), and Greece (18.7 p.p.), all of which have experienced strong economic growth in recent years. On average, OECD-EU countries saw a seven-percentage point decrease in debt between 2019 and 2024. However, this reduction should be carefully considered, as debt spiked during the COVID-19 pandemic—reaching an average of 128.9% of GDP across OECD countries in 2020—and has since decreased by 18.5 percentage points, moving closer to pre-pandemic levels (Figure ‎16.10). Overall debt levels remain elevated and without sustained action are projected to grow further. Decisive fiscal actions are needed to ensure debt sustainability, preserve room for governments to react to future shocks and generate resources to help meet large current and impending spending pressures from ageing populations, climate change mitigation and adaptation measures, and plans to significantly enhance defence spending (OECD 2025).

General government gross debt also rose significantly on a per capita basis. In 2019, the average per capita gross debt across OECD countries stood at USD 58 090 (PPP). By 2023, this figure had increased by an average of USD 14347 (PPP) across all OECD countries, and by USD 5 760 (PPP) in OECD-EU countries. Debt per capita rose in 32 of the 36 countries with available data. However, between 2019 and 2024, four OECD countries recorded a decline in per capita debt: Ireland (down USD 11241 PPP), Denmark (USD 4 994), the United Kingdom (USD 2 830), and Portugal (USD 1 280). The majority of public debt in OECD countries—79.3%—is held in the form of debt securities, such as government bonds. In 31 out of 36 countries with available data, more than half of public debt is issued as debt securities. Only in Estonia, Greece, and Norway the majority of public debt takes the form of loans (Online Figure J.11.4).

Methodology and definitions

Data are derived from the OECD National Accounts Statistics (database) and the Eurostat Government Finance Statistics (database), which are based on the System of National Accounts (SNA). The 2008 SNA framework has been implemented by all OECD countries (see Annex G). Debt, under the SNA definition, is a commonly used concept, defined as a specific subset of liabilities identified according to the types of financial instruments included or excluded. Generally, it is defined as all liabilities that require payment or payments of interest or principal by the debtor to the creditor at a date or dates in the future. All debt instruments are liabilities, but some liabilities such as shares, equity and financial derivatives are not debt. Debt is thus obtained as the sum of these liability categories, whenever available/applicable in the financial balance sheet of the general government sector: currency and deposits; debt securities; loans; and other liabilities (i.e. insurance, pension and standardised guarantee schemes, other accounts payable as well as, in some cases special drawing rights -SDRs). According to the SNA, most debt instruments are valued at market prices, when appropriate (although some countries might not apply this valuation, in particular for debt securities). The treatment of government liabilities in respect of their employee pension plans varies across countries, making international comparability difficult. In the 1993 SNA, only the funded component of the government employee pension plans was reflected in its liabilities. However, the 2008 SNA recognises the importance of the liabilities of employers’ pension schemes, regardless of whether they are funded or unfunded. For pensions provided by government to their employees, countries have some flexibility in recording unfunded liabilities in the core tables; this has also been followed by the ESA 2010, its European equivalent (although a new supplementary table is added showing liabilities and associated flows of all pension schemes, whether funded or unfunded). Some OECD countries, e.g. Australia, Canada, Colombia, Iceland, New Zealand, Sweden and the United States, record employment-related pension liabilities, funded or unfunded, in government debt data. For those countries, an adjusted government debt ratio is calculated by excluding from the debt these unfunded pension liabilities. Government debt here is recorded on a gross basis, not adjusted by the value of government-held assets. The SNA debt definition differs from the definition applied under the Maastricht Treaty, which is used to assess EU fiscal positions (Online Figure J.11.6 in Annex J).

Further reading

OECD (2025), OECD Economic Outlook, Interim Report March 2025: Steering through Uncertainty, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/89af4857-en.

OECD (2025), OECD Economic Surveys: Ireland 2025, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/9a368560-en.

OECD (2024), OECD Economic Surveys: Greece 2024, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/a35a56b6-en.

Figure notes

Data for Colombia, Mexico and Türkiye are not included in the OECD average.

Figure ‎16.9. Data for Costa Rica are not available.

Figure ‎16.9 and Figure ‎16.11. Data for Costa Rica are not available. Data for Brazil and Indonesia are for 2021 rather than 2023.

Figure J.11.4 (Structure of government debt by financial instruments, 2023 and 2024) and Figure J.11.5 (Annual growth rate of real government debt per capita, 2019-20, 2020-22, 2022-23 and 2023-24) are available online in Annex J.

Figure ‎16.9. General government gross debt as a percentage of GDP, 2019, 2023 and 2024

Sources: OECD National Accounts Statistics (database); Eurostat Government finance statistics (database).

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Figure ‎16.10. General government gross debt as a percentage of GDP, 2007 to 2024

Sources: OECD National Accounts Statistics (database); Eurostat Government finance statistics (database).

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Figure ‎16.11. General government gross debt per capita, 2019, 2023 and 2024

Sources: OECD National Accounts Statistics (database); Eurostat Government finance statistics (database).

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