Eurostat: Bulgaria has the largest increase in the EU in government debt to GDP – Bulgaria

The share of national debt of the countries of the European Union relative 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 figures from the European Statistics Agency show Eurostatpublished 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 annualized basis (as of Q4 2022), the ratio public debt to GDP also decreases at the end of 2023 – for the EU from 83.4 to 81.7 percent, and for the Eurozone – 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 lowest ratio of government debt in relation to gross domestic product (GDP) among EU countries was reported in Estonia (19.6 percent), Bulgaria (23.1 percent), Luxembourg (25.7 percent) and Denmark (29.3 percent).

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).

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