Public debt statistics show both the size of government liabilities and the way those liabilities are financed. At the end of 2025, general government gross debt was 81.7% of GDP in the European Union and 87.8% in the euro area. The figures below use Eurostat’s government finance statistics and structure-of-government-debt data, with measurement dates and geographic scope stated for each comparison.
Contents
- EU debt levels at the end of 2025
- How public debt changed over time
- The instruments behind government debt
- Who holds government debt
- Maturity structure and refinancing exposure
- Currency and consolidation effects
EU debt levels at the end of 2025
The headline debt-to-GDP ratio was 81.7% for the EU general government sector at the end of 2025. The corresponding euro-area ratio was higher, at 87.8% of GDP. These are gross debt measures: they describe government debt relative to annual economic output and do not by themselves show the government’s financial assets, interest costs, or repayment schedule. Eurostat, “Government finance statistics”
Debt ratios varied considerably among EU countries. Greece recorded the highest ratio, at 146.1% of GDP. Italy followed at 137.1%, while France stood at 115.6%. Belgium’s ratio was 107.9%, and Spain’s was 100.7%. In each case, the measurement refers to general government gross debt at the end of 2025.
At the other end of the distribution, Estonia recorded the EU’s lowest government debt ratio, at 24.1% of GDP. Luxembourg’s ratio was 26.5%, and Denmark’s was 27.9%. The contrast between these figures and the highest ratios illustrates why an EU-wide average should not be treated as a typical national experience. Eurostat, “Government finance statistics”
| Country or area | General government gross debt at end-2025 |
|---|---|
| European Union | 81.7% of GDP |
| Euro area | 87.8% of GDP |
| Greece | 146.1% of GDP |
| Italy | 137.1% of GDP |
| France | 115.6% of GDP |
| Belgium | 107.9% of GDP |
| Spain | 100.7% of GDP |
| Estonia | 24.1% of GDP |
| Luxembourg | 26.5% of GDP |
| Denmark | 27.9% of GDP |
How public debt changed over time
The EU debt ratio has moved through several distinct measurement points. General government debt was 86.9% of GDP at the end of 2014, then 77.5% at the end of 2019. It reached 89.5% at the end of 2020. By the end of 2025, the ratio was 81.7% of GDP.
On the supplied end-point comparison, EU government debt fell 7.8 percentage points from the end of 2020 to the end of 2025. That change does not mean the ratio declined in every intervening year, but it does show that the 2025 level was below the 2020 level by that amount. The earlier 2014, 2019, 2020, and 2025 observations should therefore be read as dated snapshots rather than as a continuous annual series.
The latest year-over-year movement was upward. EU government debt increased by 1.0 percentage point of GDP between the ends of 2024 and 2025. Euro-area government debt increased by 0.8 percentage point over the same period. National movements were mixed: 19 EU countries recorded a higher debt-to-GDP ratio at the end of 2025 than at the end of 2024, while 8 recorded a lower ratio.
Finland had the largest EU debt-ratio increase in that comparison, rising by 6.2 percentage points between the ends of 2024 and 2025. Greece had the largest decrease, falling by 8.0 percentage points. These national changes sit alongside the aggregate increase because an EU-wide figure combines countries with different directions and magnitudes of movement. Eurostat, “Structure of government debt”
The instruments behind government debt
Debt ratios describe scale, but the composition of debt describes how governments borrow. At the end of 2025, debt securities represented 83.5% of EU government gross debt. Loans represented 14.2%, while currency and deposits represented 2.4%. In the euro area, debt securities accounted for 84.1% of government gross debt.
Debt securities were the largest government-debt instrument in 26 of the 27 EU countries at the end of 2025. The country-level composition nevertheless differed sharply. Debt securities accounted for 90.6% of Czechia’s government gross debt, compared with 27.0% in Greece. Loans made up 70.9% of Greece’s government gross debt and 40.4% of Estonia’s. In Portugal, currency and deposits represented 18.3% of government gross debt.
These percentages help distinguish a government funded mainly through marketable securities from one with a larger loan component. They also show why two countries with similar debt-to-GDP ratios can face different financing structures. The composition figures are shares of gross debt at the end of 2025, not estimates of future borrowing costs or forecasts of refinancing conditions. Eurostat, “Structure of government debt”
Who holds government debt
Ownership is another dimension of public debt statistics. Resident financial corporations held 69.1% of Sweden’s government debt at the end of 2025. Their share was 68.9% in Czechia and 61.2% in Croatia. At the lower end of the supplied examples, resident financial corporations held 11.1% of Cyprus’s government debt, 18.2% of Estonia’s, 20.4% of Greece’s, and 22.3% of Latvia’s.
Non-resident ownership was dominant in a different group of countries. Non-residents held more than half of government debt in 16 EU countries and Norway at the end of 2025. Their share reached 88.1% in Cyprus and 77.8% in Estonia.
The resident and non-resident figures should not be treated as mutually interchangeable measures of every possible investor category without consulting the underlying statistical definitions. They are useful here as indicators of where the recorded holders are located and whether domestic financial corporations or non-residents account for a larger share. The same debt instrument can also be viewed through more than one classification, so ownership statistics complement rather than replace instrument statistics. Eurostat, “Structure of government debt”
Maturity structure and refinancing exposure
Maturity statistics indicate how much outstanding government debt was incurred on a long-term or short-term basis. Sweden’s long-term debt represented 71.1% of outstanding government debt at the end of 2025. Lithuania and Slovakia had nearly 100% of their outstanding government debt incurred on a long-term basis.
The short-term shares for Lithuania and Slovakia were correspondingly very small in the supplied figures: 0.6% for Lithuania and 0.5% for Slovakia. Cyprus had a short-term share of 1.4%. These figures describe the maturity structure at the end of 2025; they do not state when every individual security will mature or predict how governments will refinance it.
Other countries had substantially greater short-term exposure. Short-term debt represented 28.9% of Sweden’s outstanding government debt and 21.5% of Portugal’s. Norway’s outstanding government debt was split 53% short-term and 47% long-term at the end of 2025.
| Country | Short-term share at end-2025 | Long-term share or split |
|---|---|---|
| Lithuania | 0.6% | Nearly 100% long-term |
| Slovakia | 0.5% | Nearly 100% long-term |
| Cyprus | 1.4% | — |
| Portugal | 21.5% | — |
| Sweden | 28.9% | 71.1% long-term |
| Norway | 53% | 47% long-term |
The distinction matters because a larger short-term share can make the timing of refinancing more prominent, while a larger long-term share indicates that more of the outstanding stock was incurred on a long-term basis. The statistics alone do not quantify interest-rate risk, rollover cost, or the timing of future deficits. Eurostat, “Structure of government debt”
Currency and consolidation effects
Two final measures add context to headline gross debt ratios: subsector consolidation and the currency denomination of debt. Subsector consolidation describes the reduction in reported government debt when debt held between government subsectors is consolidated. At the end of 2025, 18 EU countries and Norway reduced government debt by less than 5% through subsector consolidation.
The effect was much larger in selected countries. Subsector consolidation reduced Cyprus’s government debt by 67%, Latvia’s by 26%, and Spain’s by 21% at the end of 2025. These figures show that the consolidated general-government measure can differ materially from an unadjusted aggregation of government subsector liabilities.
Foreign-currency debt also varied widely. It represented 75% of Bulgaria’s government gross debt at the end of 2025, 53% of Romania’s, 32% of Hungary’s, and 26% of Poland’s. The figures identify the share of gross debt denominated in foreign currency; they do not quantify exchange-rate gains or losses, hedging arrangements, or the cost of servicing that debt.
Taken together, the statistics describe public debt from several angles: the EU and euro-area debt-to-GDP levels, dated changes in those ratios, the instruments used to borrow, the location of holders, the maturity profile, consolidation effects, and currency denomination. Each measure has a defined scope and date, so comparisons are most reliable when the same measure is used across the same period and geography. Eurostat, “Structure of government debt”