As of 2021, the top ten countries with the most debt in absolute terms, according to the International Monetary Fund, are:
- United States – $28.7 trillion
- Japan – $12.2 trillion
- China – $6.8 trillion
- Italy – $3.1 trillion
- France – $2.7 trillion
- Germany – $2.7 trillion
- United Kingdom – $2.6 trillion
- Brazil – $2.6 trillion
- Canada – $2.2 trillion
- Spain – $1.6 trillion
Top 10 Countries with Highest External Debt
External Debt is that part of the country’s total debt that was borrowed from foreign lenders, including governments, international financial institutions, and commercial banks. As per the latest available data with the CIA Factbook, the United States tops the list of 10 countries that have the highest external debt. The US was followed by the UK, whose debt stands almost half of that of the US. European countries such as Germany, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Italy, Spain and Ireland are also in the list of countries with huge external debt. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is one of the agencies responsible for tracks a country’s external debt. A debt crisis occurs when a country cannot make enough profit to repay external debt.
Countries with the Most Debt |
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| Rank | Country | Debt – External | Date of Information |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States | $17,910,000,000,000 | 31 March 2016 est. |
| 2 | United Kingdom | $8,126,000,000,000 | 31 March 2016 est. |
| 3 | France | $5,360,000,000,000 | 31 March 2016 est. |
| 4 | Germany | $5,326,000,000,000 | 31 March 2016 est. |
| 5 | Netherlands | $4,284,000,000,000 | 31 March 2016 est. |
| 6 | Luxembourg | $3,781,000,000,000 | 31 March 2016 est. |
| 7 | Japan | $3,240,000,000,000 | 31 March 2016 est. |
| 8 | Ireland | $2,470,000,000,000 | 31 March 2016 est. |
| 9 | Italy | $2,444,000,000,000 | 31 March 2016 est. |
| 10 | Spain | $2,094,000,000,000 | 31 March 2016 est. |
Other Countries with the Debt |
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| Rank | Country | Debt – External | Date of Information |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | Australia | $1,692,000,000,000 | 31 December 2016 est. |
| 12 | Switzerland | $1,664,000,000,000 | 31 March 2016 est. |
| 13 | Canada | $1,608,000,000,000 | 31 March 2016 est. |
| 14 | Belgium | $1,281,000,000,000 | 31 March 2016 est. |
| 15 | China | $983,500,000,000 | 31 December 2016 est. |
| 16 | Sweden | $939,900,000,000 | 31 March 2016 est. |
| 17 | Austria | $689,100,000,000 | 31 March 2016 est. |
| 18 | Norway | $642,300,000,000 | 31 March 2016 est. |
| 19 | Finland | $544,700,000,000 | 31 March 2016 est. |
| 20 | Brazil | $544,100,000,000 | 31 December 2016 est. |
| 21 | Russia | $514,800,000,000 | 31 December 2016 est. |
| 22 | India | $507,000,000,000 | 31 December 2016 est. |
| 23 | Greece | $506,600,000,000 | 31 March 2016 est. |
| 24 | Denmark | $484,800,000,000 | 31 March 2016 est. |
| 25 | Mexico | $484,600,000,000 | 31 December 2016 est. |
| 26 | Singapore | $467,400,000,000 | 31 December 2016 est. |
| 27 | Portugal | $449,000,000,000 | 31 March 2016 est. |
| 28 | Hong Kong | $446,000,000,000 | 31 December 2016 est. |
| 29 | Turkey | $410,400,000,000 | 31 December 2016 est. |
| 30 | Korea, South | $385,600,000,000 | 31 December 2016 est. |
| 31 | Poland | $344,800,000,000 | 31 December 2016 est. |
| 32 | Indonesia | $344,700,000,000 | 31 December 2016 est. |
| 33 | United Arab Emirates | $220,400,000,000 | 31 December 2016 est. |
| 34 | Saudi Arabia | $200,900,000,000 | 31 December 2016 est. |
| 35 | Malaysia | $187,500,000,000 | 31 December 2016 est. |
| 36 | Chile | $160,000,000,000 | 31 December 2016 est. |
| 37 | Qatar | $159,200,000,000 | 31 December 2016 est. |
| 38 | Taiwan | $155,400,000,000 | 31 December 2016 est. |
| 39 | Argentina | $155,100,000,000 | 31 December 2016 est. |
| 40 | Kazakhstan | $147,700,000,000 | 31 December 2016 est. |
| 41 | Thailand | $137,100,000,000 | 31 December 2016 est. |
| 42 | Hungary | $131,200,000,000 | 31 December 2016 est. |
| 43 | South Africa | $129,700,000,000 | 31 December 2016 est. |
| 44 | Czechia | $128,900,000,000 | 31 December 2016 est. |
| 45 | Ukraine | $127,700,000,000 | 31 December 2016 est. |
| 46 | Colombia | $110,900,000,000 | 31 December 2016 est. |
| 47 | Romania | $101,400,000,000 | 31 December 2016 est. |
| 48 | Malta | $97,350,000,000 | 31 March 2016 est. |
| 49 | Cyprus | $95,280,000,000 | 31 December 2013 est. |
| 50 | Venezuela | $91,990,000,000 | 31 December 2016 est. |
Source: https://www.cia.gov/ The Quarterly External Debt (QEDS) database, jointly developed by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, brings together detailed external debt data of countries that subscribe to the IMF’s Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS) and a selected number of countries that participate in the IMF’s General Data Dissemination System (GDDS)
World Top Ten Countries with Highest External Debt
Top Ten Countries with the Most Debt (27th Sep, 2013)
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