Debt outstanding and disbursed, Total to GDP (% of GDP) by country
Total external debt is debt owed to nonresidents repayable in currency, goods, or services. Total external debt is the sum of public, publicly guaranteed, and private nonguaranteed long-term debt, use of IMF credit, and short-term debt. Short-term debt includes all debt having an original maturity of one year or...
What the numbers show
Debt outstanding and disbursed, Total to GDP (% of GDP) is currently reported for 50 countries. The highest value is 258.5% in Somalia; the lowest is 3.2% in Algeria.
The median across all reporting countries is 28.6%, and the mean is 39.1%.
The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 80.
Over the past decade 6 countries rose and 44 fell. The largest increase was in Seychelles (up 223.9%), and the largest decrease in Liberia (down 95.1%).
Debt outstanding and disbursed, Total to GDP: full country ranking
| # | Country | Latest | Year | 10-year change | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somalia | 258.5% | 1990 | up 136.5% | volatile |
| 2 | Seychelles | 167.9% | 2011 | up 223.9% | volatile |
| 3 | Sao Tome and Principe | 93.0% | 2011 | down 76.9% | volatile |
| 4 | Djibouti | 85.2% | 2009 | up 69.7% | rising |
| 5 | Zimbabwe | 65.0% | 2011 | up 22.2% | volatile |
| 6 | Mauritania | 64.3% | 2011 | down 63.7% | rising |
| 7 | Guinea | 61.7% | 2011 | down 40.9% | falling |
| 8 | Cape Verde | 53.9% | 2011 | down 12.3% | rising |
| 9 | Gambia | 51.9% | 2011 | down 27.8% | volatile |
| 10 | Côte d'Ivoire | 49.9% | 2011 | down 54.8% | volatile |
| 11 | Tunisia | 48.1% | 2011 | down 17.8% | rising |
| 12 | Comoros | 45.5% | 2011 | down 58.1% | falling |
| 13 | Tanzania, United Republic of | 42.1% | 2011 | down 32.9% | volatile |
| 14 | Eritrea | 40.5% | 2011 | down 35.7% | volatile |
| 15 | Sierra Leone | 35.3% | 2011 | down 69.0% | volatile |
| 16 | Congo, Democratic Republic of the | 34.8% | 2011 | down 86.0% | volatile |
| 17 | Sudan | 33.0% | 2011 | down 71.6% | volatile |
| 18 | Lesotho | 32.6% | 2011 | down 61.7% | volatile |
| 19 | Mozambique | 32.1% | 2011 | down 73.7% | volatile |
| 20 | Kenya | 30.5% | 2011 | down 28.8% | flat |
| 21 | Senegal | 30.2% | 2011 | down 60.2% | volatile |
| 22 | Guinea-Bissau | 29.3% | 2011 | down 93.5% | volatile |
| 23 | Morocco | 29.0% | 2011 | down 42.1% | volatile |
| 24 | Liberia | 29.0% | 2011 | down 95.1% | volatile |
| 25 | Ghana | 28.8% | 2011 | down 76.7% | volatile |
| 26 | Ethiopia | 28.4% | 2011 | down 60.3% | volatile |
| 27 | Madagascar | 27.9% | 2011 | down 69.7% | volatile |
| 28 | South Africa | 27.8% | 2011 | up 35.4% | rising |
| 29 | Mali | 27.1% | 2011 | down 75.3% | rising |
| 30 | Burundi | 27.0% | 2011 | down 79.7% | volatile |
| 31 | Central African Republic | 26.1% | 2011 | down 71.7% | volatile |
| 32 | Niger | 23.4% | 2011 | down 72.1% | volatile |
| 33 | Burkina Faso | 23.3% | 2011 | down 56.5% | volatile |
| 34 | Uganda | 23.0% | 2011 | down 64.4% | volatile |
| 35 | Zambia | 22.7% | 2011 | down 86.6% | volatile |
| 36 | Malawi | 21.4% | 2011 | down 85.9% | volatile |
| 37 | Angola | 20.2% | 2011 | down 89.6% | volatile |
| 38 | Benin | 19.5% | 2011 | down 66.8% | volatile |
| 39 | Togo | 17.8% | 2011 | down 83.3% | rising |
| 40 | Congo | 17.5% | 2011 | down 89.1% | volatile |
| 41 | Rwanda | 17.3% | 2011 | down 77.7% | volatile |
| 42 | Chad | 17.2% | 2011 | down 73.2% | volatile |
| 43 | Gabon | 16.9% | 2011 | down 76.9% | rising |
| 44 | Egypt | 15.2% | 2011 | down 45.4% | volatile |
| 45 | Eswatini | 14.8% | 2011 | down 26.5% | volatile |
| 46 | Botswana | 13.8% | 2011 | up 105.8% | volatile |
| 47 | Mauritius | 12.7% | 2011 | down 33.4% | falling |
| 48 | Cameroon | 12.2% | 2011 | down 88.0% | volatile |
| 49 | Nigeria | 5.4% | 2011 | down 91.8% | volatile |
| 50 | Algeria | 3.2% | 2011 | down 92.2% | volatile |
Regions and income groups
Aggregates are excluded from the country ranking above so that a region can never outrank a country.
About this data
Total external debt is debt owed to nonresidents repayable in currency, goods, or services. Total external debt is the sum of public, publicly guaranteed, and private nonguaranteed long-term debt, use of IMF credit, and short-term debt. Short-term debt includes all debt having an original maturity of one year or less and interest in arrears on long-term debt. Data expressed as a percentage of GDP at market prices.