The gross government debt-to-GDP ratio in the eurozone slightly increased to 87.4% by the end of 2024, compared to 87.3% at the end of the previous year, reported Eurostat, the European statistics office, on Tuesday.
In the European Union, this ratio also saw a slight rise, going from 80.8% in 2023 to 81% in 2024. The countries with the highest public debt-to-GDP ratios at the end of last year were Greece (153.6%), Italy (135.3%), and France (113.0%).
Belgium was just ahead of these, with a ratio of 104.7%, marking a decrease of nearly one percentage point quarterly, just ahead of Spain (101.8%).
The nations with the lowest ratios were Estonia (23.6%), Bulgaria (24.1%), Luxembourg (26.3%), Denmark (31.1%), Sweden (33.5%), and Lithuania (38.2%).
The government deficit-to-GDP ratio decreased from 3.5% in 2023 to 3.1% by the end of 2024 in the eurozone, and from 3.5% to 3.2% in the EU.
All eurozone Member States recorded a deficit in 2024, except for Denmark (+4.5%), Ireland (+4.3%), Cyprus (+4.3%), Greece (+1.3%), Luxembourg (+1.0%), and Portugal (+0.7%).
Romania (-9.3%), Poland (-6.6%), France (-5.8%), and Slovakia had the highest deficits in the zone. In Belgium, the deficit reached 4.5% by the end of 2024, slightly higher than in 2023 when it was 4.1%.
