External debt — all countries

External debt — Southern Africa

External debt in Southern Africa in 2024 — 181,225,285,441 US$. Since 1970, the indicator has risen by 289,794.6%.

2024 181B US$ +5.96% vs 2023
World rank
Period maximum 195B US$2019
Period minimum 62.51M US$1970

Trend over time

1970–2024 · US$

External debt — Southern Africa, 1970–2024050B100B150B200B19701976198219881994200020062012201820241970: 62,514,200 US$1971: 76,466,128 US$1972: 116,822,494 US$1973: 160,113,375 US$1974: 180,396,246 US$1975: 195,811,606 US$1976: 223,338,842 US$1977: 271,250,952 US$1978: 307,787,416 US$1979: 366,275,881 US$1980: 415,206,016 US$1981: 429,794,877 US$1982: 532,538,263 US$1983: 593,851,712 US$1984: 596,343,705 US$1985: 757,497,796 US$1986: 878,034,297 US$1987: 1,104,822,958 US$1988: 1,079,125,190 US$1989: 1,149,134,269 US$1990: 1,204,551,015 US$1991: 1,320,384,181 US$1992: 1,338,661,146 US$1993: 1,434,522,767 US$1994: 23,234,741,816 US$1995: 27,009,151,504 US$1996: 27,612,617,850 US$1997: 32,290,632,131 US$1998: 27,535,869,272 US$1999: 27,257,511,050 US$2000: 28,224,087,010 US$2001: 27,113,499,927 US$2002: 36,714,802,231 US$2003: 41,786,631,518 US$2004: 45,766,424,239 US$2005: 46,742,153,818 US$2006: 59,444,161,940 US$2007: 74,420,500,138 US$2008: 75,909,702,306 US$2009: 87,321,676,497 US$2010: 118,942,253,329 US$2011: 128,394,362,782 US$2012: 152,255,796,204 US$2013: 145,708,279,940 US$2014: 153,269,097,106 US$2015: 131,378,112,562 US$2016: 148,303,260,033 US$2017: 179,134,375,288 US$2018: 184,198,303,357 US$2019: 194,729,538,664 US$2020: 179,725,622,175 US$2021: 174,457,012,794 US$2022: 176,791,750,368 US$2023: 171,027,654,376 US$2024: 181,225,285,441 US$
Change over the period: +181B (+289,794.59%) Average annual rate: 15.91 %
External debt — Southern Africa, by year Southern Africa All countries CSV XLSX
Year US$ Change Change, %
2024 181B +10.2B +5.96%
2023 171B −5.76B −3.26%
2022 177B +2.33B +1.34%
2021 174B −5.27B −2.93%
2020 180B −15B −7.71%
2019 195B +10.53B +5.72%
2018 184B +5.06B +2.83%
2017 179B +30.83B +20.79%
2016 148B +16.93B +12.88%
2015 131B −21.89B −14.28%
2014 153B +7.56B +5.19%
2013 146B −6.55B −4.3%
2012 152B +23.86B +18.58%
2011 128B +9.45B +7.95%
2010 119B +31.62B +36.21%
2009 87.32B +11.41B +15.03%
2008 75.91B +1.49B +2%
2007 74.42B +14.98B +25.19%
2006 59.44B +12.7B +27.17%
2005 46.74B +976M +2.13%
2004 45.77B +3.98B +9.52%
2003 41.79B +5.07B +13.81%
2002 36.71B +9.6B +35.41%
2001 27.11B −1.11B −3.93%
2000 28.22B +967M +3.55%
1999 27.26B −278M −1.01%
1998 27.54B −4.75B −14.72%
1997 32.29B +4.68B +16.94%
1996 27.61B +603M +2.23%
1995 27.01B +3.77B +16.24%
1994 23.23B +21.8B +1,519.68%
1993 1.43B +95.86M +7.16%
1992 1.34B +18.28M +1.38%
1991 1.32B +116M +9.62%
1990 1.2B +55.42M +4.82%
1989 1.15B +70.01M +6.49%
1988 1.08B −25.7M −2.33%
1987 1.1B +227M +25.83%
1986 878M +121M +15.91%
1985 757M +161M +27.02%
1984 596M +2.49M +0.42%
1983 594M +61.31M +11.51%
1982 533M +103M +23.91%
1981 430M +14.59M +3.51%
1980 415M +48.93M +13.36%
1979 366M +58.49M +19%
1978 308M +36.54M +13.47%
1977 271M +47.91M +21.45%
1976 223M +27.53M +14.06%
1975 196M +15.42M +8.55%
1974 180M +20.28M +12.67%
1973 160M +43.29M +37.06%
1972 117M +40.36M +52.78%
1971 76.47M +13.95M +22.32%
1970 62.51M

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.