Ranked: Countries With the Most Government Debt in 2025
October 24, 2025
By Niccolo Conte
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Key Takeaways- The U.S. ($38.3T) and China ($18.7T) are the two countries with the most government debt, and together make up just over half of the world’s total debt ($110.9T).
- The top five countries make up 67% of the world’s government debt, while the top 10 make up 81%.
Global government debt has reached $110.9 trillion in 2025, but which countries are the ones with the most of it?
This visualization shows the countries with the most general government gross debt in 2025 using data from the International Monetary Fund‘s latest World Economic Outlook published in October of 2025.
Debt values were determined by using each country’s debt-to-GDP ratio and current GDP for 2025.
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.
The data table below shows the top 15 countries by the general government gross debt in 2025:
Rank Country General government gross debt (trillions, USD)
|
| 1 | ???? U.S. | $38.27 | | 2 | ???? China | $18.68 | | 3 | ???? Japan | $9.83 | | 4 | ???? United Kingdom | $4.09 | | 5 | ???? France | $3.92 | | 6 | ???? Italy | $3.48 | | 7 | ???? India | $3.36 | | 8 | ???? Germany | $3.23 | | 9 | ???? Canada | $2.60 | | 10 | ???? Brazil | $2.06 | | 11 | ???? Spain | $1.90 | | 12 | ???? Mexico | $1.10 | | 13 | ???? Singapore | $1.01 | | 14 | ???? South Korea | $0.99 | | 15 | ???? Australia | $0.93 |
The United States continues to lead with $38.3 trillion in government debt, which accounts for just over one third of the global debt pile.
China and Japan follow with $18.7 trillion and $9.8 trillion respectively, meaning the top three countries combined account for 60% of the world’s debt.
The United Kingdom, France, and Italy follow with $4.1 trillion, $3.9 trillion, and $3.5 trillion in government debt, respectively. These advanced economies have long carried high debt burdens, both in dollar value and relative to their GDP, due to sustained fiscal programs and aging populations.
Changes in Top Countries’ Government Debt in 2025
While the U.S. has just over double the value of China’s government debt, the annual increase in both countries’ government debt in 2025 wasn’t quite as significant.
Government debt in the U.S. grew by $2.9 trillion in 2025, while China’s grew by $2.2 trillion. Despite having the smaller dollar value, China’s debt grew more on a percentage basis—growing 13.6% annually compared to the U.S. debt growth of 8.4%.
Although Japan is notorious for its high debt-to-GDP ratio of 230%, in 2025 the country saw its debt-to-GDP ratio decline as it only grew its government debt by around $200 billion, or 2% on a percentage basis. |
