Comparing national debt across borders is never as simple as converting currencies and ranking nominal totals. Accounting perimeters (D1 vs D2 vs D3), reserve-currency privileges, domestic debt ownership ratios, and foreign exchange reserve buffers mean identical debt ratios carry vastly different systemic implications. The dossiers below provide multidimensional analysis based on official data from national authorities, the IMF, the OECD, and the BIS.
China’s official government debt (central + local) is about 69% of GDP, above Korea’s D1 at roughly 49%. But China’s hidden local debt debate and Korea’s D1/D2/D3 split make a simple ranking misleading.
Japan’s general-government debt-to-GDP (≈262%, IMF basis) is OECD’s highest, but 85%+ is domestically held — FX risk is lower. Korea’s D1 (≈49%) has a lower ratio but faster growth and higher external share.
Korean household debt sits near 90% of GDP vs the OECD ≈60% average. Mortgage share is high and the stock is sensitive to short-rate changes.
US gross federal debt (incl. intragovernmental holdings) is ≈131% of GDP, Korea D1 is ≈49%. The gap narrows once reserve-currency status, domestic holdings, and tax base are factored.
National debt ≈1,305T KRW vs household debt ≈1,993T KRW. Governments can coordinate with central bank and taxes; households face rate and employment shocks directly.
Japan’s general-government debt (≈262% of GDP, IMF basis) is the world’s highest, yet mostly held domestically and by its own central bank. China’s official figure looks lower at about 69%, but the IMF’s augmented estimate — adding local-government financing vehicle (LGFV) debt — exceeds roughly 112% of GDP (provisional). A low headline ratio with large shadow debt sits opposite a high gross ratio with a lower net one.
Japan’s general-government gross ratio (≈262%, IMF basis) is more than double the US gross federal ratio (≈131%, incl. intragovernmental holdings), yet over 85% of Japanese bonds are held at home and the Bank of Japan absorbs roughly half. About 30% of the publicly held US Treasuries, by contrast, sit with foreign investors and central banks, tying the currency and rate path to global capital markets. It is holder structure, not the ratio, that separates the two.
Korean household debt sits near 90% of GDP — among the OECD’s highest and still under upward pressure. Spain, after a long deleveraging that followed the 2008 property-bubble collapse, has fallen to about 47% (provisional). The same metric shows one economy climbing toward a peak and the other descending from the far side of a crisis.
US federal debt stands near 131% of GDP, anchored by reserve-currency dominance and global dollar absorption. In contrast, China’s official government debt registers at just 69% of GDP, but expands to roughly 112% on the IMF’s augmented measure that consolidates Local Government Financing Vehicles (LGFVs).
Japan’s general-government gross debt towers near 262% of GDP, supported by an autonomous central bank (Bank of Japan) and an overwhelmingly domestic bondholder base (85%+). Spain’s debt ratio sits around 103% of GDP—less than half of Japan’s—yet as an EMU member without independent monetary issuance, it remains strictly bound by European Central Bank (ECB) rate cycles and Maastricht fiscal rules.