External debt — all countries

External debt — Low-income countries

External debt in low-income countries in 2024 — 243,373,027,115 US$. Since 1970, the indicator has risen by 9,855.9%.

2024 243B US$ +1.99% vs 2023
World rank
Period maximum 243B US$2024
Period minimum 2.44B US$1970

Trend over time

1970–2024 · US$

External debt — Low-income countries, 1970–20240100B200B300B19701976198219881994200020062012201820241970: 2,444,506,812 US$1971: 2,755,050,214 US$1972: 3,228,411,928 US$1973: 4,087,592,726 US$1974: 5,953,758,330 US$1975: 7,396,835,167 US$1976: 8,739,204,528 US$1977: 11,966,031,717 US$1978: 14,987,426,759 US$1979: 17,869,526,779 US$1980: 21,470,941,329 US$1981: 25,545,422,691 US$1982: 29,313,335,169 US$1983: 31,740,034,329 US$1984: 35,275,178,051 US$1985: 41,665,266,552 US$1986: 48,073,919,072 US$1987: 57,616,584,406 US$1988: 59,033,284,550 US$1989: 62,359,758,497 US$1990: 69,193,755,498 US$1991: 72,135,910,735 US$1992: 74,209,758,023 US$1993: 75,421,512,345 US$1994: 81,449,781,653 US$1995: 84,985,551,215 US$1996: 83,927,995,494 US$1997: 80,454,533,775 US$1998: 86,447,669,815 US$1999: 79,389,855,649 US$2000: 77,681,085,290 US$2001: 74,236,726,655 US$2002: 78,142,489,726 US$2003: 85,504,433,604 US$2004: 87,154,402,457 US$2005: 83,849,426,906 US$2006: 69,920,365,711 US$2007: 77,123,719,781 US$2008: 85,331,682,290 US$2009: 92,373,430,903 US$2010: 90,484,026,756 US$2011: 93,777,505,723 US$2012: 106,993,499,871 US$2013: 128,979,802,343 US$2014: 141,068,897,141 US$2015: 151,384,463,376 US$2016: 158,306,120,089 US$2017: 173,770,108,445 US$2018: 185,263,028,156 US$2019: 195,299,532,139 US$2020: 215,071,328,037 US$2021: 230,135,062,683 US$2022: 230,300,489,492 US$2023: 238,630,733,737 US$2024: 243,373,027,115 US$
Change over the period: +241B (+9,855.92%) Average annual rate: 8.89 %
External debt — Low-income countries, by year Low-income countries All countries CSV XLSX
Year US$ Change Change, %
2024 243B +4.74B +1.99%
2023 239B +8.33B +3.62%
2022 230B +165M +0.07%
2021 230B +15.06B +7%
2020 215B +19.77B +10.12%
2019 195B +10.04B +5.42%
2018 185B +11.49B +6.61%
2017 174B +15.46B +9.77%
2016 158B +6.92B +4.57%
2015 151B +10.32B +7.31%
2014 141B +12.09B +9.37%
2013 129B +21.99B +20.55%
2012 107B +13.22B +14.09%
2011 93.78B +3.29B +3.64%
2010 90.48B −1.89B −2.05%
2009 92.37B +7.04B +8.25%
2008 85.33B +8.21B +10.64%
2007 77.12B +7.2B +10.3%
2006 69.92B −13.93B −16.61%
2005 83.85B −3.3B −3.79%
2004 87.15B +1.65B +1.93%
2003 85.5B +7.36B +9.42%
2002 78.14B +3.91B +5.26%
2001 74.24B −3.44B −4.43%
2000 77.68B −1.71B −2.15%
1999 79.39B −7.06B −8.16%
1998 86.45B +5.99B +7.45%
1997 80.45B −3.47B −4.14%
1996 83.93B −1.06B −1.24%
1995 84.99B +3.54B +4.34%
1994 81.45B +6.03B +7.99%
1993 75.42B +1.21B +1.63%
1992 74.21B +2.07B +2.87%
1991 72.14B +2.94B +4.25%
1990 69.19B +6.83B +10.96%
1989 62.36B +3.33B +5.63%
1988 59.03B +1.42B +2.46%
1987 57.62B +9.54B +19.85%
1986 48.07B +6.41B +15.38%
1985 41.67B +6.39B +18.11%
1984 35.28B +3.54B +11.14%
1983 31.74B +2.43B +8.28%
1982 29.31B +3.77B +14.75%
1981 25.55B +4.07B +18.98%
1980 21.47B +3.6B +20.15%
1979 17.87B +2.88B +19.23%
1978 14.99B +3.02B +25.25%
1977 11.97B +3.23B +36.92%
1976 8.74B +1.34B +18.15%
1975 7.4B +1.44B +24.24%
1974 5.95B +1.87B +45.65%
1973 4.09B +859M +26.61%
1972 3.23B +473M +17.18%
1971 2.76B +311M +12.7%
1970 2.44B

About the indicator

Total external debt: the liabilities of a country's residents to non-residents in foreign and in national currency, covering public, publicly guaranteed and private debt. It differs from government debt fundamentally — it includes the borrowing of banks and corporations that the government does not guarantee but that turns out to be its problem in a crisis all the same.

Important: Only middle- and low-income countries report to the World Bank Debtor Reporting System, so the table holds about 130 of them. Aggregates for country groups are not computed: the sum over those present is the debt of developing countries, not of the world.

Source: World Development Indicators (World Bank), license CC BY 4.0.