European government finances
EU budget deficit & surplus
Which governments spend more than they receive? Compare the annual budget balance across Europe, and see it alongside the debt already on the books.
Official annual data · Reporting year 2025 · Eurostat
- EU-27 balance
- -3.1% % of GDP
- Countries with a surplus
- 5 / 27
- Deficits below −3%
- 10 / 27
Official Eurostat aggregate, not an average of country percentages.
Official annual data · 2025
Europe’s annual balance
Select a country on the map or in the list. Positive means surplus; negative means deficit.
Loading map. All figures are available in the ranking below.
- Surplus > 0%
- Balanced: 0%
- Deficit: −3% to < 0%
- Deficit < −3%
- No data
EU reference value: −3% · — = unavailable
France · 2025
-5.1%
Deficit · % of GDP
- Previous year · 2024
- -5.8%
- Annual change
- +0.7 pp
- EU rank
- 24 / 27
- Government debt / GDP · Year-end 2025
- 115.6%
Balance improved: +0.7 pp from the previous year.
Balance covers the calendar year; debt is measured at year-end. Both ratios use the same reporting year.
Annual balance, % of GDP. The dotted line marks −3%. Gaps mean missing data; points are not interpolated.
View annual values
| Reporting year | Budget balance |
|---|---|
| 2015 | -3.9% |
| 2016 | -3.8% |
| 2017 | -3.4% |
| 2018 | -2.3% |
| 2019 | -2.4% |
| 2020 | -8.9% |
| 2021 | -6.6% |
| 2022 | -4.7% |
| 2023 | -5.4% |
| 2024 | -5.8% |
| 2025 | -5.1% |
EU-27 · 2025
All 27, side by side
Highest surplus to largest deficit. Equal published balances share a rank (1, 2, 2, 4); searching does not change ranks. Changes are in percentage points (pp).
Countries shown: 27 / 27
| EU rank | Country | Budget balance2025 | Previous year2024 | Annual changepp | Government debt / GDPYear-end 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CyprusCY | +3.4% | +4.1% | -0.7 | 55.0% |
| 2 | DenmarkDK | +2.9% | +4.5% | -1.6 | 27.9% |
| 3 | IrelandIE | +1.8% | +4.1% | -2.3 | 32.9% |
| 4 | GreeceGR | +1.7% | +1.3% | +0.4 | 146.1% |
| 5 | PortugalPT | +0.7% | +0.6% | +0.1 | 89.7% |
| 6 | SwedenSE | -1.3% | -1.5% | +0.2 | 35.1% |
| 7 | NetherlandsNL | -1.6% | -0.7% | -0.9 | 44.4% |
| 8 | LithuaniaLT | -1.8% | -1.3% | -0.5 | 39.5% |
| 9 | EstoniaEE | -2.0% | -1.1% | -0.9 | 24.1% |
| 9 | LuxembourgLU | -2.0% | +0.9% | -2.9 | 26.5% |
| 11 | CzechiaCZ | -2.1% | -2.0% | -0.1 | 44.3% |
| 12 | MaltaMT | -2.2% | -3.4% | +1.2 | 46.4% |
| 13 | SpainES | -2.4% | -3.2% | +0.8 | 100.7% |
| 14 | LatviaLV | -2.5% | -1.8% | -0.7 | 46.9% |
| 14 | SloveniaSI | -2.5% | -0.9% | -1.6 | 65.7% |
| 16 | GermanyDE | -2.7% | -2.7% | 0.0 | 63.5% |
| 17 | CroatiaHR | -3.0% | -2.3% | -0.7 | 56.3% |
| 18 | ItalyIT | -3.1% | -3.4% | +0.3 | 137.1% |
| 19 | FinlandFI | -3.4% | -4.4% | +1.0 | 88.5% |
| 20 | BulgariaBG | -3.5% | -3.0% | -0.5 | 29.9% |
| 21 | AustriaAT | -4.2% | -4.6% | +0.4 | 81.5% |
| 22 | SlovakiaSK | -4.5% | -5.3% | +0.8 | 61.4% |
| 23 | HungaryHU | -4.7% | -5.1% | +0.4 | 74.6% |
| 24 | FranceFR | -5.1% | -5.8% | +0.7 | 115.6% |
| 25 | BelgiumBE | -5.2% | -4.4% | -0.8 | 107.9% |
| 26 | PolandPL | -7.3% | -6.4% | -0.9 | 59.7% |
| 27 | RomaniaRO | -7.9% | -9.3% | +1.4 | 59.3% |
Budget balance / Government debt / GDP
A yearly flow. An accumulated stock.
What does the balance measure?
General government revenue minus expenditure, recorded on an accrual basis under ESA 2010. A positive balance is net lending (a surplus); a negative balance is net borrowing (a deficit). It covers central, regional and local government and social security funds.
Debt and deficit explained →Why look at debt too?
A deficit usually adds financing pressure, while a surplus can ease it. But the annual balance is not identical to the change in debt: financial transactions, cash movements and valuation effects also matter. GDP growth can lower the debt ratio even when debt rises.
Compare debt-to-GDP ratios →Official annual data
Source & calculations
Source: Eurostat, dataset gov_10dd_edpt1. Visualisation and calculations by EU Debt Map. This independent website is not endorsed by Eurostat.
- Reporting year
- 2025 · % of GDP
- Eurostat updated
- Accessed
Annual (A) · General government (S13) · Balance (B9) / debt (GD) · % GDP (PC_GDP)
Balance covers the calendar year; debt is measured at year-end. Both ratios use the same reporting year.
EU Debt Map calculations
Annual change = this year’s balance minus the previous calendar year’s balance, in percentage points. Rankings use published, rounded observations. No interpolation, forecasts or live estimates are used for these annual figures.
Highest surplus to largest deficit. Equal published balances share a rank (1, 2, 2, 4); searching does not change ranks. Changes are in percentage points (pp).
Methodology · Source
General government revenue minus expenditure, recorded on an accrual basis under ESA 2010. A positive balance is net lending (a surplus); a negative balance is net borrowing (a deficit). It covers central, regional and local government and social security funds.
Data is fetched during an explicit update, validated and stored locally. Builds and visits use that snapshot. The latest two years must contain all 27 countries and the official EU aggregate; otherwise the update is rejected. Eurostat can revise earlier observations.
Available annual periods: 2015–2025.
Letters beside a value are Eurostat observation flags: p = provisional, e = estimated, b = break in series. Other codes are retained as supplied; consult the source metadata. No flag means none was supplied, not a guarantee against revisions.