Southern Europe remains the most indebted
Greece and Italy continue to record the highest government debt levels in 2025, both far above 100% of GDP.
Government debt across Europe
Public debt levels, crisis peaks and long-term fiscal pressure
Government debt is one of the clearest indicators of long-term public finance pressure. This page tracks general government consolidated gross debt across EU countries from 2000 to 2025, expressed as a percentage of GDP.
The time series shows how debt levels changed through major economic shocks: the global financial crisis, the euro area sovereign debt crisis, the 2020 pandemic shock and the following period of adjustment. The latest map and table provide a clear snapshot of which countries remain highly indebted and which maintain comparatively low debt levels.
Explore the data
Key insights
The 2020 shock reshaped debt levels
Debt increased sharply in many countries in 2020, with the strongest one-year jumps recorded in Greece, Spain, Cyprus and Italy.
Low-debt countries remain concentrated in Northern and Eastern Europe
Estonia, Luxembourg, Denmark and Bulgaria recorded the lowest government debt levels in 2025.
Key comparisons
Selected highlights from the government debt dataset, 2000–2025. Values are shown as percentage of GDP.
Extended analysis
1) Government debt levels differ sharply across Europe
The latest data show a wide gap in government debt levels across EU countries. In 2025, the highest debt levels were recorded in Greece (146.1% of GDP), Italy (137.1%), France (115.6%), Belgium (107.9%) and Spain (100.7%).
At the other end of the ranking, the lowest debt levels were recorded in Estonia (24.1%), Luxembourg (26.5%), Denmark (27.9%) and Bulgaria (29.9%).
2) The 2020 shock produced a visible debt jump
The most visible turning point in the time series comes in 2020, when government debt rose sharply in many countries. The largest increases between 2019 and 2020 were recorded in Greece (+26.2 p.p.), Spain (+21.6 p.p.), Cyprus (+21.3 p.p.) and Italy (+20.5 p.p.).
This jump reflects the combined effect of crisis-related public spending, lower economic activity and changes in GDP. Because the indicator is expressed as a percentage of GDP, debt ratios can rise both when borrowing increases and when GDP falls.
3) Some countries reduced debt substantially after their peaks
Several countries recorded large declines from their historical peaks in the dataset. The largest decline from peak to 2025 was recorded in Ireland (-86.0 p.p.), followed by Greece (-63.3 p.p.), Cyprus (-58.6 p.p.) and Portugal (-44.4 p.p.).
These declines do not necessarily mean that nominal debt disappeared. They show that debt fell relative to GDP, which can happen through fiscal consolidation, economic growth, inflation effects or a combination of these factors.
4) Long-term debt paths are not uniform
Between 2000 and 2025, the largest increases in government debt were recorded in France (+55.9 p.p.), Finland (+43.4 p.p.), Spain (+42.9 p.p.), Slovenia (+39.6 p.p.) and Greece (+37.2 p.p.).
By contrast, some countries ended the period with lower debt ratios than in 2000. The clearest long-term declines were recorded in Bulgaria (-40.8 p.p.), Denmark (-25.7 p.p.) and Sweden (-15.3 p.p.).
5) High debt and low debt can both persist
The highest average debt levels over the full 2000–2025 period were recorded in Greece (150.5% of GDP), Italy (123.7%), Belgium (102.3%) and Portugal (98.6%).
The lowest average levels were recorded in Estonia (10.6%), Luxembourg (17.4%), Bulgaria (27.6%) and Lithuania (31.8%). This shows that debt patterns often reflect long-lasting fiscal and institutional differences between countries.
How to read this indicator
Government debt is shown as general government consolidated gross debt as a percentage of GDP. The indicator covers the general government sector, including central government, regional and local authorities and social security funds. It is useful for comparing public debt burdens across countries, but it should not be interpreted as the debt of the central state budget alone. EFTA countries are not shown because comparable data were not available in the dataset used here.