The share of European Union countries’ public debt to their gross domestic product (GDP) fell to 81.7 percent at the end of the fourth quarter of 2023, down from 82.4 percent in the previous quarter, the latest data from the European statistical agency Eurostat, published today.
If only the countries of the euro area are considered, then a decrease in the ratio of public debt to GDP is also reported for them – to 88.6 percent at the end of December 2023, compared to 89.6 percent at the end of September 2023.
On an annual basis (compared to the fourth quarter of 2022), the government debt-to-GDP ratio also decreased at the end of 2023 – for the EU from 83.4 to 81.7 percent, and for the euro area – from 90.8 to 88. 6 percent.
Ratio of public debt to GDP in EU countries
At the end of the last quarter of last year, the lowest ratio of government debt to gross domestic product (GDP) among EU countries was recorded in Estonia (19.6 percent), Bulgaria (23.1 percent), Luxembourg (25.7 percent) and Denmark (29.3 percent).
The highest ratio – public debt to GDP at the end of March 2023 was registered in Greece (161.9 percent), Italy (137.3 percent), France (110.6 percent), Spain (107.7 percent) and Belgium (105.2 percent).
Towards the end of the third quarter, at the end of 2023, 10 countries from the European Union report an increase in the ratio of government debt to GDP. It has the biggest increase in this indicator Bulgaria (+2.1 percentage points), followed by Latvia (+1.6 percentage points), Finland (+1.5 percentage points), Estonia (+1.4 percentage points), Sweden (+1.2 percentage points) and Poland (+1 percentage point).
The largest decrease in the ratio of public debt to GDP among EU countries during this period was registered in Portugal (-8.4 percentage points), Greece (-3.7 percentage points), Slovenia (-2.6 percentage points), Belgium (-2.4 percentage points), Slovakia (-2.3 percentage points) and Spain (-2.1 percentage points).
Tags: Bulgaria largest increase government debt GDP Eurostat data
