External debt — all countries

External debt — Western Africa

External debt in Western Africa in 2024 — 294,778,912,554 US$. Since 1970, the indicator has risen by 10,057.7%.

2024 295B US$ +3.8% vs 2023
World rank
Period maximum 295B US$2024
Period minimum 2.9B US$1970

Trend over time

1970–2024 · US$

External debt — Western Africa, 1970–20240100B200B300B19701976198219881994200020062012201820241970: 2,902,013,282 US$1971: 3,372,490,753 US$1972: 3,729,838,204 US$1973: 5,204,052,694 US$1974: 5,959,067,908 US$1975: 6,421,057,520 US$1976: 6,978,425,871 US$1977: 10,968,200,743 US$1978: 16,267,894,027 US$1979: 19,525,910,575 US$1980: 26,212,365,871 US$1981: 30,638,890,788 US$1982: 32,684,540,583 US$1983: 39,004,708,073 US$1984: 39,514,298,409 US$1985: 43,694,543,873 US$1986: 52,276,100,809 US$1987: 64,877,029,548 US$1988: 65,128,814,339 US$1989: 66,406,157,066 US$1990: 74,790,073,793 US$1991: 76,751,344,385 US$1992: 73,370,298,654 US$1993: 76,756,384,897 US$1994: 78,537,289,829 US$1995: 82,415,754,398 US$1996: 80,813,912,708 US$1997: 74,133,539,541 US$1998: 77,017,553,796 US$1999: 74,421,769,096 US$2000: 76,338,829,939 US$2001: 77,438,831,072 US$2002: 81,940,189,740 US$2003: 89,490,179,199 US$2004: 94,611,798,202 US$2005: 81,611,774,450 US$2006: 58,388,809,458 US$2007: 65,686,181,768 US$2008: 67,251,664,217 US$2009: 76,677,227,295 US$2010: 86,488,245,089 US$2011: 98,229,449,423 US$2012: 104,694,306,770 US$2013: 118,555,998,175 US$2014: 127,542,678,079 US$2015: 133,906,304,431 US$2016: 136,444,119,610 US$2017: 167,386,458,442 US$2018: 182,257,403,126 US$2019: 197,383,270,005 US$2020: 228,200,522,690 US$2021: 257,588,097,701 US$2022: 268,272,754,806 US$2023: 284,000,100,889 US$2024: 294,778,912,554 US$
Change over the period: +292B (+10,057.74%) Average annual rate: 8.93 %
External debt — Western Africa, by year Western Africa All countries CSV XLSX
Year US$ Change Change, %
2024 295B +10.78B +3.8%
2023 284B +15.73B +5.86%
2022 268B +10.68B +4.15%
2021 258B +29.39B +12.88%
2020 228B +30.82B +15.61%
2019 197B +15.13B +8.3%
2018 182B +14.87B +8.88%
2017 167B +30.94B +22.68%
2016 136B +2.54B +1.9%
2015 134B +6.36B +4.99%
2014 128B +8.99B +7.58%
2013 119B +13.86B +13.24%
2012 105B +6.46B +6.58%
2011 98.23B +11.74B +13.58%
2010 86.49B +9.81B +12.8%
2009 76.68B +9.43B +14.02%
2008 67.25B +1.57B +2.38%
2007 65.69B +7.3B +12.5%
2006 58.39B −23.22B −28.46%
2005 81.61B −13B −13.74%
2004 94.61B +5.12B +5.72%
2003 89.49B +7.55B +9.21%
2002 81.94B +4.5B +5.81%
2001 77.44B +1.1B +1.44%
2000 76.34B +1.92B +2.58%
1999 74.42B −2.6B −3.37%
1998 77.02B +2.88B +3.89%
1997 74.13B −6.68B −8.27%
1996 80.81B −1.6B −1.94%
1995 82.42B +3.88B +4.94%
1994 78.54B +1.78B +2.32%
1993 76.76B +3.39B +4.62%
1992 73.37B −3.38B −4.41%
1991 76.75B +1.96B +2.62%
1990 74.79B +8.38B +12.63%
1989 66.41B +1.28B +1.96%
1988 65.13B +252M +0.39%
1987 64.88B +12.6B +24.1%
1986 52.28B +8.58B +19.64%
1985 43.69B +4.18B +10.58%
1984 39.51B +510M +1.31%
1983 39B +6.32B +19.34%
1982 32.68B +2.05B +6.68%
1981 30.64B +4.43B +16.89%
1980 26.21B +6.69B +34.24%
1979 19.53B +3.26B +20.03%
1978 16.27B +5.3B +48.32%
1977 10.97B +3.99B +57.17%
1976 6.98B +557M +8.68%
1975 6.42B +462M +7.75%
1974 5.96B +755M +14.51%
1973 5.2B +1.47B +39.52%
1972 3.73B +357M +10.6%
1971 3.37B +470M +16.21%
1970 2.9B

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.