European government finances

Government debt growth in the EU

Name: Debt growth · EU27
Creator: EU Debt Map

A larger debt stock can coexist with a lower debt ratio. Compare where debt has risen or fallen, in euros and relative to GDP, over exact historical periods.

EU Debt Map calculations · official quarterly Eurostat inputs

Latest quarter: 2026 Q1
Comparison period: 1 · 5 · 10 years
Countries: 27 EU

Comparison period

Rank countries by

2021 Q1 → 2026 Q1 · Fastest debt growth (%)

How debt has changed

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Rank applies to the selected measure and period. Equal displayed changes share a rank (1, 2, 2, 4); search keeps ranks fixed. Percentages and percentage points use one decimal. A ranking may include decreases as well as increases; read the sign.

Countries shown: 27 / 27

Fastest debt growth (%) · 2021 Q1 → 2026 Q1
EU rank	Country	Government debt2021 Q1	Government debt2026 Q1	Change in euros	Debt growth (%)	Debt / GDPStart → End	Debt/GDP change (pp)
1	BulgariaBG	€15.28bn	€34.23bn^p	+€18,953,500,000^p	+124.0%^p	24.2% → 28.5%p	+4.3 pp^p
2	RomaniaRO	€102.58bn	€229.43bn^p	+€126,845,400,000^p	+123.7%^p	47.0% → 60.1%p	+13.1 pp^p
3	EstoniaEE	€5.55bn	€10.65bn^p	+€5,093,300,000^p	+91.7%^p	19.7% → 25.2%p	+5.5 pp^p
4	PolandPL	€298.97bn	€569.89bn^p	+€270,916,900,000^p	+90.6%^p	57.9% → 61.6%p	+3.7 pp^p
5	HungaryHU	€107.56bn	€179.20bn^p	+€71,638,300,000^p	+66.6%^p	79.7% → 77.7%p	-2.0 pp^p
6	CzechiaCZ	€96.11bn	€156.15bn^p	+€60,043,700,000^p	+62.5%^p	42.9% → 44.1%p	+1.2 pp^p
7	LithuaniaLT	€22.60bn	€36.26bn^p	+€13,660,100,000^p	+60.4%^p	44.4% → 42.3%p	-2.1 pp^p
8	SlovakiaSK	€55.26bn	€86.80bn^p	+€31,537,800,000^p	+57.1%^p	58.2% → 62.5%p	+4.3 pp^p
9	MaltaMT	€7.52bn	€11.46bn^p	+€3,933,000,000^p	+52.3%^p	51.9% → 45.9%p	-6.0 pp^p
10	LatviaLV	€13.54bn	€20.44bn^p	+€6,897,000,000^p	+50.9%^p	46.3% → 46.9%p	+0.6 pp^p
11	LuxembourgLU	€18.31bn	€26.40bn^p	+€8,088,400,000^p	+44.2%^p	27.8% → 29.2%p	+1.4 pp^p
12	FinlandFI	€179.43bn	€255.14bn^p	+€75,714,000,000^p	+42.2%^p	76.2% → 89.7%p	+13.5 pp^p
13	AustriaAT	€327.91bn	€431.41bn^p	+€103,502,500,000^p	+31.6%^p	87.0% → 83.3%p	-3.7 pp^p
14	BelgiumBE	€538.40bn	€706.58bn^p	+€168,179,000,000^p	+31.2%^p	115.4% → 109.1%p	-6.3 pp^p
15	FranceFR	€2.75tn	€3.54tn^p	+€783,596,400,000^p	+28.5%^p	117.7% → 117.6%p	-0.1 pp^p
16	SpainES	€1.40tn	€1.74tn^p	+€344,293,000,000^p	+24.7%^p	124.2% → 101.6%p	-22.6 pp^p
17	CroatiaHR	€45.04bn	€55.22bn^p	+€10,179,900,000^p	+22.6%^p	88.5% → 58.4%p	-30.1 pp^p
18	GermanyDE	€2.38tn^p	€2.90tn^p	+€525,304,100,000^p	+22.1%^p	68.8%p → 64.4%p	-4.4 pp^p
19	ItalyIT	€2.66tn	€3.16tn^p	+€500,824,100,000^p	+18.8%^p	157.7% → 138.9%p	-18.8 pp^p
20	NetherlandsNL	€440.68bn	€517.38bn^p	+€76,695,000,000^p	+17.4%^p	53.8% → 43.8%p	-10.0 pp^p
21	SloveniaSI	€40.20bn	€46.31bn^p	+€6,110,400,000^p	+15.2%^p	85.5% → 64.8%p	-20.7 pp^p
22	SwedenSE	€199.12bn	€213.93bn^p	+€14,813,800,000^p	+7.4%^p	40.5% → 34.9%p	-5.6 pp^p
23	PortugalPT	€274.31bn	€283.11bn^p	+€8,800,600,000^p	+3.2%^p	137.5% → 91.0%p	-46.5 pp^p
24	GreeceGR	€353.92bn	€360.11bn^p	+€6,191,000,000^p	+1.7%^p	212.9% → 143.5%p	-69.4 pp^p
25	IrelandIE	€229.71bn	€215.41bn^p	-€14,296,200,000^p	-6.2%^p	58.5% → 37.0%p	-21.5 pp^p
26	DenmarkDK	€138.40bn	€112.46bn^p	-€25,939,100,000^p	-18.7%^p	43.9% → 26.8%p	-17.1 pp^p
27	CyprusCY	€26.58bn	€20.09bn^p	-€6,490,400,000^p	-24.4%^p	117.5% → 54.6%p	-62.9 pp^p

— = not comparable: an endpoint is missing, the series has a flagged break/definition difference, or the percentage base is zero. No nearby quarter is substituted.

Eurostat flags are retained: p = provisional, e = estimated, b = break, d = definition differs. Calculations inherit input uncertainty. Comparisons crossing b/d flags are withheld; forecasts are excluded. Other source codes remain visible; revisions are possible even without a flag.

Two views of the same debt

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Netherlands · 2021 Q1 → 2026 Q1

Netherlands: debt changed by +€76.70bn (+17.4%) and debt/GDP by -10.0 pp, from 2021 Q1 to 2026 Q1.

Debt rose in euros while the debt-to-GDP ratio fell over this period.

Debt stock in euros · Netherlands

Official debt-to-GDP ratio · Netherlands

Each chart has its own labelled vertical scale. Gaps and flagged breaks are not joined. The table provides the exact quarterly values.

View quarterly values

Netherlands · Eurostat · gov_10q_ggdebt
Quarter	Government debt (€)	Debt / GDP (%)
2021 Q1	€440,682,000,000	53.8%
2021 Q2	€448,671,000,000	52.9%
2021 Q3	€443,879,000,000	51.0%
2021 Q4	€450,255,000,000	50.5%
2022 Q1	€447,696,000,000	48.7%
2022 Q2	€458,854,000,000	48.6%
2022 Q3	€451,689,000,000	46.7%
2022 Q4	€481,198,000,000	48.4%
2023 Q1	€475,006,000,000	47.0%
2023 Q2	€470,634,000,000	45.8%
2023 Q3	€467,734,000,000	45.0%
2023 Q4	€481,635,000,000	45.9%
2024 Q1	€476,163,000,000	44.7%
2024 Q2	€475,574,000,000	44.0%
2024 Q3	€469,888,000,000	42.8%
2024 Q4	€491,251,000,000	44.0%
2025 Q1	€490,551,000,000^p	43.5%^p
2025 Q2	€491,517,000,000^p	43.0%^p
2025 Q3	€493,512,000,000^p	42.7%^p
2025 Q4	€523,720,000,000^p	44.7%^p
2026 Q1	€517,377,000,000^p	43.8%^p

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More euros is not always a higher debt ratio

A stock, not an annual deficit

The euro change is the ending debt stock minus the starting stock. Percentage growth divides this change by the starting debt. It is the total change over the selected period, not an annual growth rate or CAGR. Financial transactions and valuation effects mean that debt growth is not simply the sum of budget deficits.

Compare budget balances →

A different denominator

The ratio change subtracts the two published debt-to-GDP percentages, giving percentage points. A larger nominal economy can reduce this ratio even as debt in euros rises. This observation does not by itself establish why a ratio changed or whether debt is sustainable.

View the EU debt map →

Euro amounts are nominal, not inflation-adjusted. For non-euro countries, movements in the quarter-end exchange rate can change euro debt without the same change in national-currency debt. EU27 membership is held fixed across the historical comparison.

EU Debt Map calculations · official quarterly Eurostat inputs

Source and calculations

Source: Eurostat, gov_10q_ggdebt. Visualisation and calculations by EU Debt Map. Eurostat does not endorse this independent website.

Eurostat: gov_10q_ggdebt
Comparison period: 2016 Q1 → 2026 Q1
Updated by Eurostat: 21 July 2026
Accessed: 6 September 2026

Quarterly (Q), general government (S13), consolidated gross debt at nominal value (GD), million euros (MIO_EUR) and official percent of GDP (PC_GDP). Both series use the same reporting quarters and source vintage.

Euro change = end − start. Debt growth (%) = (end − start) / start × 100. Debt/GDP change (pp) = ending ratio − starting ratio. Endpoints are the same quarter exactly 1, 5 or 10 years apart; 10 years needs 41 quarterly observations.

— = not comparable: an endpoint is missing, the series has a flagged break/definition difference, or the percentage base is zero. No nearby quarter is substituted.

Methodology · Eurostat

Explicit updates fetch and validate both series together, then replace one local snapshot. Builds and visits use saved data. The latest quarter must cover all 27 countries. Older gaps remain missing; a failed or regressed update preserves the previous snapshot. The existing EU five-year chart requires 21 complete, comparable debt observations for every country.

API query · MIO_EUR · freq=Q · sector=S13 · na_item=GD · unit=MIO_EUR
API query · PC_GDP · freq=Q · sector=S13 · na_item=GD · unit=PC_GDP

Methodology →