Government debt
Topic: Economy and prices
Relative to GDP, government debt in Greece is 5.4 times that of Estonia.
At the end of the second quarter of 2026, the gross debt of all levels of government in the EU as a whole was 82.9% of GDP.
- Figures for:
- the end of the second quarter of 2026.
- Covers:
- one day.
- New data:
- every quarter.
- Dataset updated:
- 21 October 2026.
The ranking
At the end of the second quarter of 2026, government debt as a share of GDP ranged from 26.1% of GDP in Estonia to 140.8% of GDP in Greece.
Government debt as a share of GDP, % of GDP
the end of the second quarter of 2026About the data
General government gross debt at the end of the quarter, at nominal (face) value, consolidated within the sector ('Maastricht debt'), by default as a percentage of GDP. The GDP is the sum of the last four quarters.
Eurostat: “'Quarterly government debt' is defined as the total gross debt at nominal value outstanding at the end of each quarter for the general government sector” (source)
Quarterly government finance statistics transmitted by the Member States under Regulation (EU) No 549/2013 (ESA 2010).
How to read these numbers
How it is measured
The EU figure is not the sum of the countries' debts. Loans between EU governments (mainly to Greece, Ireland and Portugal, including through the EFSF) are deducted from it since 2009. The debt of countries outside the euro area is converted into euro at end-of-quarter exchange rates, and their GDP at average rates. So the EU figure can move with exchange rates.
The ratio uses quarterly GDP (the last four quarters). For Bulgaria, Greece and Poland quarterly and annual GDP differ, so the ratio can differ from the annual debt ratio.
Provisional figures
A provisional value (flag p) may still be revised. This concerns every country (the end of the second quarter of 2026) and the EU (the end of the second quarter of 2026).
Sources and data
Eurostat, Quarterly government debt (gov_10q_ggdebt). Data updated 21 October 2026, retrieved 1 November 2026. Licence: CC BY 4.0.
Eurostat metadata · Eurostat methodology
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/api/dissemination/statistics/1.0/data/gov_10q_ggdebt?format=JSON&lang=en&freq=Q&geo=AT&geo=BE&geo=BG&geo=CY&geo=CZ&geo=DE&geo=DK&geo=EE&geo=EL&geo=ES&geo=EU27_2020&geo=FI&geo=FR&geo=HR&geo=HU&geo=IE&geo=IT&geo=LT&geo=LU&geo=LV&geo=MT&geo=NL&geo=PL&geo=PT&geo=RO&geo=SE&geo=SI&geo=SK&na_item=GD§or=S13&unit=PC_GDPRelated stories
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