Markets & Investing
Economy: Japan Has The Highest National Debt per Citizen Worldwide With $89,000
15 Jan 2020
Data gathered and calculated by Learnbonds indicates that Japan has the highest national debt per person. With a population of 126,847,639, each Japanese national owes 89,525.51 of the $11.4 trillion national debt.
High National Debt per Person
Compared to the United States, Japan’s national debt per citizen is more by $19,345 representing a difference of 24%. Globally, the US has the highest national debt at $23.2 trillion with a population of 330,315,550.
According to the report, Japan’s high public debt per citizen can be attributed to the crashing of the stock market, which forced the government to bail out most banks and insurance companies through the provision of low-interest credit. At the same time, leading banking institutions were consolidated and nationalized in a bid to reignite the economy.
China emerges as the only country with a significant lower national debt when ranked against other leading economies. China’s $5,866 national debt per person is over 15 times lower than in Japan and over 11 times lower than the US. China has a population of about 1.4 billion with a national debt of $8.4 trillion.
In fact, data gathered as per January 14th shows that China had a public debt of about $8.4 trillion which is three times lower than the United States $23.2 trillion. Notably, China which is the largest economy with the highest population globally has maintained a low national debt when compared to countries in its class.
Up to 7 countries in Europe lead the top 10 most indebted economies per citizen
In Europe, heavily indebted countries include Belgium ($50,462) in 3rd place, the United Kingdom ($49,211) in 4th, Italy ($47,147) in 5th and France ($43,437) in 7th place.
Greece, which suffered one of the world’s worst public debt crises, ranks eight. The European country has a public debt per person at $40,109 based on its population of 10,472,228.
The Greek debt crisis hit a dangerous amount of sovereign debt based on the money owed to the European Union between 2008 and 2018. Interestingly, Greece’s debt ratio is lower compared to Japan, but the repercussions have been much more severe in Greece. The two countries have a percentage difference of 55% ($49,416).
Ireland is currently the ninth country with the highest public debt per citizen. With a population of 4,818,000 Ireland has a national debt of $39,006 per person against the $188 billion national debt.
Switzerland closes the top ten categories of the most indebted county. The 8,593,386 population owes $37,254.32 national debt per person against a national debt of $320 billion.
Justinas Baltrusaitis, LearnBonds.com editor noted: “An overview of the national debt shows that many states are surviving on borrowed money. Borrowing enables governments to cover budget shortfalls without raising taxes or cutting back public spending.”
On the lower side, Nigeria and Indonesia are among the least indebted countries with each citizen owing $707 and $1,283 respectively.
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