Government debt at 88.8% of GDP in euro area

At the end of the second quarter of 2026, the general government gross debt to GDP ratio in the euro area (EA21) stood at 88.8%, an increase compared with 88.4% at the end of the first quarter of 2026. In the EU, the ratio also increased from 82.5% to 82.9%.

Compared with the second quarter of 2025, the government debt to GDP ratio increased in both the euro area (from 87.3% to 88.8%) and the EU (from 81.4% to 82.9%).

At the end of the second quarter of 2026, the general government debt was made up of 84.5% debt securities in the euro area and 83.9% in the EU, 13.1% loans in the euro area and 13.8% in the EU and 2.4% currency and deposits in both the euro area and the EU.

Due to the involvement of EU Member States' governments in lending to certain Member States, quarterly data on intergovernmental lending (IGL) are also published. The IGL as percentage of GDP at the end of the second quarter of 2026 stood at 1.3% in the euro area and at 1.1% in the EU.

These data are released by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

Euro area and EU general government gross debt

Government debt at the end of the second quarter of 2026 by Member State

The highest ratios of government debt to GDP at the end of the second quarter of 2026 were recorded in Greece (140.8%), Italy (139.9%), France (119.1%), Belgium (110.2%) and Spain (101.4%), and the lowest ratios were recorded in Estonia (26.1%), Denmark (27.1%), Luxembourg (28.2%) and Bulgaria (28.7%).