External debt — all countries

External debt — Lower-middle-income countries

External debt in lower-middle-income countries in 2024 — 2,605,368,934,002 US$. Since 1970, the indicator has risen by 10,703.9%.

2024 2.61T US$ +3.82% vs 2023
World rank
Period maximum 2.61T US$2024
Period minimum 24.12B US$1970

Trend over time

1970–2024 · US$

External debt — Lower-middle-income countries, 1970–202401T2T3T19701976198219881994200020062012201820241970: 24,115,090,551 US$1971: 28,030,842,946 US$1972: 30,642,476,300 US$1973: 35,407,653,771 US$1974: 41,749,510,167 US$1975: 50,834,745,119 US$1976: 59,254,751,948 US$1977: 80,041,241,905 US$1978: 96,904,489,679 US$1979: 112,001,356,438 US$1980: 142,630,760,339 US$1981: 160,435,345,093 US$1982: 188,565,524,581 US$1983: 206,946,114,992 US$1984: 212,946,046,218 US$1985: 243,544,598,512 US$1986: 271,464,665,426 US$1987: 315,229,998,860 US$1988: 324,346,072,714 US$1989: 373,286,593,586 US$1990: 403,382,622,602 US$1991: 416,691,537,421 US$1992: 426,413,513,701 US$1993: 449,051,049,790 US$1994: 478,759,124,652 US$1995: 491,408,613,146 US$1996: 484,806,052,071 US$1997: 474,801,218,553 US$1998: 500,643,278,010 US$1999: 512,795,459,236 US$2000: 497,697,921,050 US$2001: 501,573,094,893 US$2002: 535,541,906,414 US$2003: 585,770,988,121 US$2004: 620,853,362,650 US$2005: 594,219,468,827 US$2006: 627,162,620,814 US$2007: 734,120,711,423 US$2008: 816,507,216,355 US$2009: 904,247,530,711 US$2010: 1,028,427,759,838 US$2011: 1,142,507,561,479 US$2012: 1,256,809,733,260 US$2013: 1,387,861,117,194 US$2014: 1,451,730,668,993 US$2015: 1,524,249,429,725 US$2016: 1,572,513,338,094 US$2017: 1,778,335,764,616 US$2018: 1,866,348,732,072 US$2019: 2,011,623,252,953 US$2020: 2,154,628,146,727 US$2021: 2,328,462,779,116 US$2022: 2,383,216,769,342 US$2023: 2,509,413,881,783 US$2024: 2,605,368,934,002 US$
Change over the period: +2.58T (+10,703.89%) Average annual rate: 9.06 %
External debt — Lower-middle-income countries, by year Lower-middle-income countries All countries CSV XLSX
Year US$ Change Change, %
2024 2.61T +95.96B +3.82%
2023 2.51T +126B +5.3%
2022 2.38T +54.75B +2.35%
2021 2.33T +174B +8.07%
2020 2.15T +143B +7.11%
2019 2.01T +145B +7.78%
2018 1.87T +88.01B +4.95%
2017 1.78T +206B +13.09%
2016 1.57T +48.26B +3.17%
2015 1.52T +72.52B +5%
2014 1.45T +63.87B +4.6%
2013 1.39T +131B +10.43%
2012 1.26T +114B +10%
2011 1.14T +114B +11.09%
2010 1.03T +124B +13.73%
2009 904B +87.74B +10.75%
2008 817B +82.39B +11.22%
2007 734B +107B +17.05%
2006 627B +32.94B +5.54%
2005 594B −26.63B −4.29%
2004 621B +35.08B +5.99%
2003 586B +50.23B +9.38%
2002 536B +33.97B +6.77%
2001 502B +3.88B +0.78%
2000 498B −15.1B −2.94%
1999 513B +12.15B +2.43%
1998 501B +25.84B +5.44%
1997 475B −10B −2.06%
1996 485B −6.6B −1.34%
1995 491B +12.65B +2.64%
1994 479B +29.71B +6.62%
1993 449B +22.64B +5.31%
1992 426B +9.72B +2.33%
1991 417B +13.31B +3.3%
1990 403B +30.1B +8.06%
1989 373B +48.94B +15.09%
1988 324B +9.12B +2.89%
1987 315B +43.77B +16.12%
1986 271B +27.92B +11.46%
1985 244B +30.6B +14.37%
1984 213B +6B +2.9%
1983 207B +18.38B +9.75%
1982 189B +28.13B +17.53%
1981 160B +17.8B +12.48%
1980 143B +30.63B +27.35%
1979 112B +15.1B +15.58%
1978 96.9B +16.86B +21.07%
1977 80.04B +20.79B +35.08%
1976 59.25B +8.42B +16.56%
1975 50.83B +9.09B +21.76%
1974 41.75B +6.34B +17.91%
1973 35.41B +4.77B +15.55%
1972 30.64B +2.61B +9.32%
1971 28.03B +3.92B +16.24%
1970 24.12B

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.