Business news from Ukraine

The information and analytical center Experts Club presented a video analysis of the dynamics of the public debt of the countries of the world over the past six decades, prepared on the basis of a comparative table of public debt volumes in dollar equivalent for 1960–2025.

According to the presented data, the total volume of public debt of the countries included in the study increased from about $381 billion in 1960 to approximately $89.7 trillion in 2025. Thus, over the period covered by the analysis, the nominal volume of debt obligations in the world increased more than 200 times.

Experts Club notes that the video format makes it possible to visually show not only the absolute growth of debt, but also the change in the structure of the global debt burden among the world’s leading economies. If in 1960 the largest volume of public debt fell mainly on the United States and several large economies of Western Europe, then in the 21st century Asian economies and countries with high rates of economic growth also entered the group of the largest debtors.

“Over the past 60 years, public debt has turned from an instrument for financing individual budget needs into one of the key elements of the global economic system. Today, it is not only about the volume of borrowings, but about the ability of states to manage the cost of debt, its maturity structure and its impact on economic growth,” said Maksym Urakin, founder of the Experts Club information and analytical center and Candidate of Economic Sciences.

According to the table, in 2025 the largest volume of public debt among the countries of the world was held by the United States — about $38.27 trillion. Japan was in second place — $9.83 trillion, followed by the United Kingdom — $4.09 trillion, France — $3.92 trillion, Italy — $3.48 trillion, India — $3.36 trillion and Germany — $3.23 trillion.

The top ten countries by absolute volume of public debt in 2025 also included Canada — $2.60 trillion, Brazil — $2.06 trillion and Spain — $1.73 trillion. In total, the ten largest debtors accounted for about 81% of the total debt volume of the countries presented in the table.

The largest share in the global debt mass, according to calculations based on the table, fell on the United States — approximately 42.7%. Japan’s share was about 11%. The five largest countries by absolute debt volume concentrated more than 66% of the total indicator.

The dynamics of recent years indicate a further acceleration of the debt burden in the largest economies. In particular, in 2024–2025, the public debt of the United States increased by approximately $2.91 trillion, Japan’s — by $362 billion, the United Kingdom’s — by $260 billion, France’s — by $250 billion, and India’s — by $230 billion.

At the same time, Experts Club draws attention to the fact that the cited indicators reflect precisely the absolute volumes of debt in U.S. dollars, and not debt relative to GDP, population size or budget revenues. Therefore, the absolute ranking shows the scale of debt obligations, but does not always directly characterize the debt sustainability of one country or another.

“The absolute size of public debt cannot automatically be interpreted as a sign of financial weakness. For large economies, the depth of the domestic financial market, trust in the national currency, the structure of creditors and the ability of the economy to service obligations without losing macro-financial stability are important. That is why the comparison of public debt should combine absolute indicators with an analysis of debt to GDP, budget revenues and the cost of its servicing,” Urakin emphasized.

As for Ukraine, according to the available data, Ukraine’s public debt in 2000 amounted to about $16.3 billion, in 2010 — $51.1 billion, in 2020 — $87.6 billion, in 2024 — $209.8 billion, and in 2025 — about $227.7 billion. By the absolute volume of debt in 2025, Ukraine was approximately in the fourth dozen of countries in the world among those presented in the table.

Experts Club emphasizes that the long-term visualization of debt indicators makes it possible to better assess how the financial architecture of the world has changed after the 1960s, in particular after the oil crises, the period of high inflation, the global financial crisis of 2008, the COVID-19 pandemic and new stages of budgetary stimulus in the leading economies.

The center’s analysts note that the further assessment of debt dynamics should be carried out taking into account not only absolute volumes, but also the ratio of debt to GDP, the cost of debt servicing, the currency structure of obligations, the share of domestic and external borrowings, as well as the ability of the economy to generate long-term revenues for servicing the debt burden.