Eurostat: Bulgaria ranks first in terms of growth of government debt to GDP among EU countries

The share of the public debt of the countries of the European Union in relation to their gross domestic product (GDP) decreased to 81.7 percent at the end of the fourth quarter of 2023, compared to 82.4 percent in the previous quarter. This is clear from the latest data of the European statistical agency Eurostat.

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. The biggest increase in this indicator is 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 biggest 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).