The United States has the highest nominal government debt, exceeding $ 38 $ 3 8 trillion in 2025. However, when measuring debt relative to the size of the economy (debt-to-GDP ratio), nations like Japan (over 200 % 2 0 0 % ) and Bahrain (over 140 % 1 4 0 % ) often rank as having higher debt burdens.
The United States has the world's largest national debt in absolute dollar terms (over $38 trillion in 2025), followed by China and Japan, with these three countries holding a majority of the world's government debt. However, when measured as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Japan often ranks highest (around 230%), indicating a larger debt burden relative to its economic size.
The UK, like a number of other developed economies, is facing a difficult fiscal outlook. Public debt, at 101% of GDP and climbing, is historically high outside of major wars. At the same time, the deficit was 5.7% of GDP in 2024—the third-highest among European countries.
Economies with the lowest government debt as a share of GDP 2025. In 2025, Liechtenstein was estimated to have the lowest debt-to-GDP ratio in the world, at just 0.5 percent, with Brunei having the second-lowest at 2.3 percent.
A failure by successive governments to live within their means has left the UK with a £2.9tn mountain of debt, which is almost as large as the entire economy and costs over £100bn a year in interest payments.
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Which country is heavily in debt?
Advanced Economies Make Up Most of World's Debt
The top five countries alone—the United States, China, Japan, the United Kingdom, and France—account for two-thirds of global government debt, together making up $74.8 trillion in debt. 🇺🇸 U.S.
We have slower income growth, so we have fewer resources with which to pay our debt. Paul Solman: That is fewer tax revenues, which would mean borrowing even more. Plus, lower growth means less demand from businesses to borrow money for investment, which also tends to lower rates.
The United States pays interest on approximately $850 billion in debt held by the People's Republic of China. China, however, is currently in default on its sovereign debt held by American bondholders.
France holds the largest consolidated national debt in Europe at around €3.3 trillion in Q1 2025, equivalent to roughly 22% of the total debt across the 28 countries analysed. Greece, despite making steady progress since its 2021 peak debt levels, still carries the highest debt‑to‑GDP ratio in Europe at 152.5%.
Which country takes the highest loan from World Bank?
“India tops the World Bank charts—not for begging, but for building. $39.3B isn't debt—it's investment in the future. While others borrow to survive, India borrows to scale.” Ishan Kashyap there does not have to be a direct link.
There is no IRS forgiveness plan officially introduced by Trump in 2025. While some campaign proposals have discussed tax simplification or reduced rates, they do not include debt cancellation for individuals with unpaid taxes.
A protracted default could trigger a variety of economic problems including a financial crisis, and a decline in output that would put the country into an economic recession.
Each led to massive interventions, with borrowing never falling back to pre-crisis levels. After piling up debt upon debt, the UK and France owe the same amount - around £2.9tr (€3.3tr).
Who Owns All that Debt? On October 21, 2025, the nation's gross debt eclipsed $38 trillion. Of that amount, approximately 80 percent, was debt held by the public — representing cash borrowed from domestic and foreign investors.
There is no independent country that is completely debt-free. Having national debt is considered normal in modern economic systems. The country with the highest national debt is Japan. The United States is not a debt-free country.
China became the world's largest official lender as of 2017. Yet, research indicates that, as of 2018, 50% of its official lending commitments to developing countries went unreported in the most widely used official debt statistics.
South Sudan is the poorest country in the world in 2025, with a $251 GDP per capita. More startlingly, India makes the list as well. It's the 50th poorest by GDP per capita ($2,878), a rare case of a top-five economy by GDP having low levels of individual productivity.
At the end of December 2024, of the total government debt balance of 1,212 trillion yen, 88.1 per cent was held domestically. The largest holders were the Bank of Japan (46.3 per cent), domestic insurance companies (15.6 per cent), domestic banks (14.5 per cent).
