Every country on earth owes money to someone outside its borders.
The amounts range from $461 million in Eritrea, the least indebted country, to $24.54 trillion in the United States, which carries more external debt than the next ten countries on the list combined.
The data for these insights comes from Global Firepower.
According to the source, external debt is defined as both public and private debt owed to outside parties, repayable through currency exchanges, goods, and services.
TL;DR
- The United States owes $24.54 trillion to outside parties, the highest globally.
- Countries under comprehensive Western financial sanctions cluster near the lower end of external debt rankings.
| wdt_ID | wdt_created_by | wdt_created_at | wdt_last_edited_by | wdt_last_edited_at | Country | Continent | External Debt Amount ($bn) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | emmanuel-ashemiriogwa | 26/04/2026 07:59 PM | emmanuel-ashemiriogwa | 26/04/2026 07:59 PM | United States | North America | 24,538.9 |
| 2 | emmanuel-ashemiriogwa | 26/04/2026 07:59 PM | emmanuel-ashemiriogwa | 26/04/2026 07:59 PM | United Kingdom | Europe | 10,553.1 |
| 3 | emmanuel-ashemiriogwa | 26/04/2026 07:59 PM | emmanuel-ashemiriogwa | 26/04/2026 07:59 PM | France | Europe | 7,691.3 |
| 4 | emmanuel-ashemiriogwa | 26/04/2026 07:59 PM | emmanuel-ashemiriogwa | 26/04/2026 07:59 PM | Germany | Europe | 6,862.5 |
| 5 | emmanuel-ashemiriogwa | 26/04/2026 07:59 PM | emmanuel-ashemiriogwa | 26/04/2026 07:59 PM | Netherlands | Europe | 5,257.9 |
| 6 | emmanuel-ashemiriogwa | 26/04/2026 07:59 PM | emmanuel-ashemiriogwa | 26/04/2026 07:59 PM | Luxembourg | Europe | 5,203.0 |
| 7 | emmanuel-ashemiriogwa | 26/04/2026 07:59 PM | emmanuel-ashemiriogwa | 26/04/2026 07:59 PM | Japan | Asia | 5,147.7 |
| 8 | emmanuel-ashemiriogwa | 26/04/2026 07:59 PM | emmanuel-ashemiriogwa | 26/04/2026 07:59 PM | Australia | Oceania | 3,770.3 |
| 9 | emmanuel-ashemiriogwa | 26/04/2026 07:59 PM | emmanuel-ashemiriogwa | 26/04/2026 07:59 PM | Ireland | Europe | 3,630.0 |
| 10 | emmanuel-ashemiriogwa | 26/04/2026 07:59 PM | emmanuel-ashemiriogwa | 26/04/2026 07:59 PM | Italy | Europe | 3,025.0 |
America’s Singular Position
The United States owes $24.54 trillion to outside parties.
This includes foreign governments, international investors and global financial institutions.
That figure is more than double that of the second-ranked country. The United Kingdom, which ranks second, carries $10.55 trillion.
The U.S. can sustain that position because the dollar is the world’s primary reserve currency.
Foreign governments and institutions willingly hold American debt (primarily in the form of U.S. Treasury bonds) as the safest financial store of value available globally.
That arrangement, which economists describe as an “exorbitant privilege,” is what makes a $24.54 trillion external debt position stable rather than catastrophic.
It is also what the current global trade war, which has rattled confidence in dollar-denominated assets, is putting under indirect pressure.
The Counterintuitive Contrast
China, the world’s second-largest economy, ranks 25th globally in external debt with $488.11 billion.
The ratio between U.S. and Chinese external debt is approximately 50 to 1.
China’s low ranking is a deliberate policy position.
Beijing finances domestic investment through domestic savings and state-directed bank lending rather than international borrowing/
It minimises its exposure to foreign creditor pressure.
In the context of escalating U.S.-China trade and financial tensions, China’s low external debt means outside parties have limited financial leverage over Beijing through debt channels.
Sanctions Map Hidden in the Data
The bottom of this 145-country ranking contains a pattern worth examining.
Iran ranks 107th at $6.76 billion. North Korea sits at 114th with $6.05 billion. Belarus ranks 84th at $18.01 billion. Venezuela ranks 44th at $121.36 billion.
Countries under comprehensive Western financial sanctions cluster near the lower end of external debt rankings.
In other words, financial isolation and low external debt are directly correlated.
For example, Iran cannot borrow from Western banks or issue bonds to international investors after four decades of sanctions. North Korea is almost entirely excluded from the international financial system.
Their low debt is financial exclusion.
It’s the same logic that puts Eritrea at rank 145 with $461 million, the lowest figure in the entire dataset.
Bottom Is Not Safe Either
The lowest-ranked debtors are Eritrea, Central African Republic ($724 million), Kosovo ($786 million), Sierra Leone ($1.45 billion) and Liberia ($1.34 billion)
They are also among the world’s poorest and most fragile economies.
Their minimal external debt does not mean financial health. It means they cannot access international capital markets at a meaningful scale.
They are excluded from the global borrowing system rather than standing apart from it by choice.
Meanwhile, India at rank 36 ($212.73 billion) and Vietnam at rank 71 ($34.43 billion) stand out as genuine low-debt growth stories.
Both are among the primary beneficiaries of manufacturing shifts away from China.
Their low external debt gives them financial flexibility that higher-indebted peers do not have.
ELI5
Every country borrows money from other countries and investors. America borrows the most ($24.5 trillion) because everyone trusts it.
China borrows very little on purpose, so no one can pressure it financially. Some countries, like Luxembourg, seem to owe a lot, but it’s actually big companies registered there. And the countries at the bottom, like Eritrea, owe almost nothing because no one will lend them money.
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