Having debt doesn’t mean that a country is poorly run or financially unstable – in fact, some of the world’s biggest economic powers have a lot of it. But there is a fine line between a healthy and unhealthy amount. In 2010, the World Bank published a study which revealed that a 77% debt-to-GDP ratio was the tipping point for developed economies, and a 64% ratio for emerging markets. Countries which stayed above this threshold for long periods saw significant slowdowns in economic growth. Using the most recent data estimates from the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) World Economic Outlook (October 2020), click or scroll through the most in-debt nations on the planet.

Countries with economies smaller than $10 billion (£7.4bn) GDP are not included and figures are based on gross debt. All dollar amounts are US dollars.

Brazil has a gross national debt of 7.17 trillion reais, which is the equivalent of $1.41 trillion (£1.05tn). Before the coronavirus pandemic, Brazil was already seeing its debt skyrocket thanks to increased interest payments, high borrowing and a weak exchange rate, according to Reuters, as a crippling recession in 2015 and 2016 prompted the economy to shrink by almost 7%. Now that the South American country has been one of the hardest hit by the COVID-19 outbreak, the public sector debt and deficit have reached record figures in terms of share of GDP, and are set to continue to rise as government spending increases to compensate for the damage caused.

Hungary has been a controversial member of the European Union since joining in 2004 and, following the election of prime minister Viktor Orbán in 2010, there have been questions raised about the legitimacy of its finances. In fact, in September the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) revealed that it was the member state with the most financial irregularities, which include fraud against the EU budget, corruption and serious misconduct. After peaking at 80.8% of GDP in 2011, public debt had declined year on year, reaching 59.3% of GDP in 2019 according to the IMF.  However, the adverse events of 2020 mean that debt rose to an estimated 35 trillion forint ($120.2bn/£89bn), or 70.41% of GDP, as the country attempts to mitigate the financial damage caused by the pandemic.

South Africa was in a budget surplus – where its income exceeded its expenditure – in 2007, but then former president Jacob Zuma spent a controversial nine-year period in office. The overspending, mismanagement and alleged corruption under his rule were principal causes for the country falling into increasing debt, as reported by Bloomberg. South Africa’s gross national debt sits at 3.81 trillion rand ($261bn/£193.7bn), a 20.7% increase on 2019. However, the coronavirus pandemic is set to make things much worse, according to the country's treasury's projections. In the best-case scenario, South Africa’s debt will peak in 2024 while the government works to stabilise the country’s economy in the meantime, which is no easy task in the midst of a pandemic. If no action is taken debt-to-GDP could surpass 100%.

In December 2019, the IMF reported that Morocco had made “significant strides in strengthening the resilience of its economy”, although national debt has steadily increased year on year. However, the North African nation has really felt the financial shock of the coronavirus pandemic, which has prompted its debt to leap from 65.5% of GDP in 2019 to 76.6% in 2020. Tourism is the second largest contributor to Morocco’s economy, and the country was predicted to lose around $13.85 billion (£10.4bn) when travel became restricted due to the pandemic according to the National Tourism Confederation. In response, the government was forced to increase borrowing and plunge Morocco further into debt. The country's debt sits at an estimated 819.5 billion dirhams, which is the equivalent of $92.28 billion (£68.3bn).

Following years of unsustainable borrowing practices, Egypt fell into economic crisis during the late 1980s and early 1990s, and then again following the fall of former president Hosni Mubarak in 2011. In 2016, the government initiated a bold economic reform plan that prioritised reducing the nation’s debt, and its success made it one of the fastest-growing emerging markets in the world. The move improved the country’s resilience in weathering the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic, although the nation has had to call on the IMF for financial aid totalling $8 billion (£5.9bn) to maintain stability over the last few years. While the country's debt crept up to 77.96% of GDP in 2020, it remains below the 2018 figure of 81.3%. In 2021 the country will be hoping to get back on track in terms of reducing its debt, which is currently 5 trillion Egyptian pounds ($320.9bn/£237.6bn). 

Pakistan first fell into debt in the 1970s when the government borrowed large sums of money to cope with increasing oil prices, accruing high external debts in the process. The repercussions of loans from the IMF and other countries in the form of aid have been passed down through the generations, leaving Pakistan with gross debt of 36 trillion Pakistani rupees, which is equal to $224.86 billion (£166.8bn), or 79.67% of GDP. At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, prime minister Imran Khan made the case that richer countries should offer nations such as Pakistan debt relief in light of the crisis and secured an $800 million (£592m) debt-freeze deal from the G20 in November 2020. Whether the deal will have any long-term impact on the country’s mounting debts is yet to be seen. 

Yemen is a country that has been rife with conflict since early 2015 and rising national debt has gone hand in hand with increasing levels of corruption, mounting terrorist activity and the ongoing civil war. While the Middle Eastern country’s economy has benefitted from debt relief from other countries, including China writing off more than $100 million-worth (£75.3m) in 2017, and assistance from an IMF-approved trust to help poorer nations during the coronavirus pandemic, Yemen’s economy remains in dire straits. The country has debts of 12.41 trillion Yemeni rial, which is the equivalent of $49.67 billion (£36.8bn).

Located in the heart of the Middle East, Jordan has been impacted by crises in neighbouring Syria and Iraq and has witnessed an influx of refugees, which has led to rising social welfare costs and a disruption of trade. The coronavirus pandemic then worsened the financial damage already rippling through the country, causing a spike in national debt. Last year it was equivalent to 77.23% of GDP, but in 2020 it sat at 88.28%, which is 26.7 billion Jordanian dinar, or $37.66 billion (£27.9bn). In April last year, Jordan’s government acknowledged the deep impact that COVID-19 would have on its economy but said that all debt repayments would still be honoured. This came after the country secured a four-year $1.3 billion (£963m) reform programme from Western donors in March.

Debt in the UK hasn’t stopped rising since the financial crash in 2008 and the subsequent global recession, despite money-saving austerity measures put in place by the government. The UK economy is in flux as a result of the coronavirus pandemic and ever-changing lockdown measures, and while the country left the European Union on 1 January 2021 with a deal, further financial instability is set to impact the nation as it adapts. Currently the UK’s national debt is estimated to be £2.2 trillion ($2.97 trillion), which is 98.15% of GDP. 

Poor economic management and alleged corruption on the part of Zambia’s president Edgar Lungu have pushed the country’s debt up in recent years, and in 2020 it was almost equal to the nation’s entire GDP. China and Chinese institutions have lent the African country around $3 billion (£2.2bn), making up a quarter of its foreign debt, and as the COVID-19 pandemic brought the country’s copper production to a standstill, its borrowing habits were exposed as unsustainable. Zambia has been able to defer some of its debt payments because of the havoc caused by the coronavirus outbreak, but as its debts currently stand at 405.71 billion Zambian kwachas, the equivalent of $19.16 billion (£14.24bn), the country is on the brink of a debt crisis.

Like many countries severely impacted by the 2008 financial crash, Belgium had no option but to help in bailing out some of Europe’s major banks. The Belgian economy was plunged back into crisis in 2020 thanks to the coronavirus pandemic and last year was the first time that the country’s debt exceeded €500 billion ($611bn/£459bn) – it is currently estimated at €518 billion ($630bn/£477bn), which is 103.81% of GDP.

Before the outbreak of COVID-19, the United States was enjoying its longest economic expansion on record, and the impact of the Great Recession between 2007 and 2009 was all but eradicated by 2014. The year 2020, however, was quite a different story, and the country recorded its steepest ever quarterly drop in economic output between April and June, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. National debt has also seen a sharp incline as a result – in 2018 and 2019, gross debt as a percentage of GDP was 83% and 84% respectively, but in 2020 it was estimated at 106.78%, which is equivalent to a staggering $27.29 trillion (£20.7tn). 

Since 2009, Spain has been part of the EU’s Excessive Deficit Procedure, which means that the EU has been keeping tabs on its economy to ensure it manages its budget responsibly. Last year, Spain was able to exit the programme after successfully reducing its deficit (the difference between a government’s expenses and its revenues), although it still had debts of €1.19 trillion ($1.4tn/£1.1tn), and the country marked its fifth consecutive year of growth. Spain’s progress may be entirely unravelled by the coronavirus pandemic however, as spending increased significantly and the country’s debt rose to a new record high in June. As of October 2020, Spain had accrued debts worth €1.3 trillion ($1.6tn/£1.2tn), which is equivalent to 106.91% of GDP.

Following President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to increase public spending last year in response to the gilet jaunes (yellow vest) protests about high taxes and low living standards, France’s national debt was already on the rise. That increase soon became a mountain of debt when France became Europe’s largest spender when attempting to mitigate damage caused by coronavirus with additional borrowing, which included a €100 billion ($121bn/£91.8bn) stimulus package in September 2020. The move puts France among the top three European countries in terms of its gross debt, which is 110.01% of GDP, or €2.65 trillion ($3.2tn/£2.4tn)

The EU had to bail out Portugal during the country’s long-standing financial crisis in 2011, but the cash injection prompted its economy to grow at its fastest rate in 20 years in the following decade. The country was making a strong economic comeback and in 2019 was able to announce its first budget surplus in 45 years. However, Portugal still had high public debts of 111.35% of GDP that year. As a country heavily dependent on its tourist industry, Portugal's economy has been adversely affected by the coronavirus pandemic, and by October 2020 its GDP was 5.8% lower than at the same time in 2019. The nation's debts have also grown, ballooning to an estimated 130.27% of GDP in 2020. That's the equivalent of €266 billion ($323bn/£244bn).

Italy has consistently underachieved over the past two decades when it comes to economic performance, which has resulted in limited growth, scant resources to deal with the impacts of climate change such as Venice’s flooding problems, and difficulty in funding the country’s expensive pension system. Italy was at the epicentre of Europe’s initial coronavirus outbreak, and the country has seen its economy thrown into its worst recession since World War II as a result. As of 2020 Italy’s gross public debt was estimated to be an enormous 148.84% of GDP at €2.6 trillion ($3.2tn/£2.4tn). This figure is only set to grow as the country will receive a total of €209 billion ($254bn/£192bn) in loans and grants from the European Union’s Recovery Fund over the next three years as it seeks to recover from the devastation caused by the pandemic.

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Lebanon accumulated an abundance of debt following the 1975-1990 civil war, which many blame on successive governments’ mishandling of the country’s finances, including prioritising amassing personal wealth over solving nationwide issues, such as daily power cuts and a lack of safe drinking water. The country was in a vicious cycle of debt, with the government spending half of its revenues just on paying off interest from loans. The financial situation in Lebanon was then crippled further not only by the COVID-19 outbreak, but also by the devastating explosion in Beirut in August, which killed more than 200 people and caused more than $15 billion-worth (£11.3bn) of damage to the city’s infrastructure. Needless to say, Lebanon finds itself in a deep economic crisis, with national debt at a total of 160.8 trillion Lebanese pounds ($105.9bn/£79.8bn) or 167.21% of GDP.

Japan has the highest debt-to-GDP ratio in the world at 177.08%. In the late 1980s, Japan’s real estate and stock market prices were hugely inflated, and the resulting economic bubble burst in 1992, leading to a period of financial stagnation known as the ‘Lost Decade’. Japan has since grown into the world’s third-largest economy, but with the global financial crisis and a number of domestic catastrophes – including the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, which was the globe’s most expensive natural disaster, causing almost $325 billion-worth (£245bn) of damage – it has had little opportunity to quash its debts. Along with other Asian economies, Japan has led the so-called ‘Zoom boom’ as its economy quickly bounced back from the recession caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, with 5% growth in the third quarter of 2020. But this recent triumph is a drop in the ocean when it comes to the country’s astounding debt, and the knife-edge on which it leaves Japan’s economy.

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