THE WEEK’S FIGURE
The stock of public debt stood at the end of last year at 61,000 billion dollars in OECD countries.
According to the 2026 edition of the “Global Debt Monitor” report just published by the OECD, the overall stock of debt of states and private sector businesses reached a record amount of around 109,000 billion dollars last year. In developing countries, the outstanding public debt, known as sovereign debt, stood at a never-before-seen level of 61,000 billion dollars at the end of 2025, compared to 55,000 billion dollars a year earlier.
By categories of borrowing, fixed-rate bonds represent approximately 76% of the total stock, followed by Treasury bills (about 15%), inflation-linked securities (about 8%), and variable interest rate debt (about 2%).
In 2025, the ratio of public sector debt to GDP remained stable in OECD countries at 83%, but is expected to rise to 85% this year, which is 39 percentage points higher than in 2007, before the global financial crisis of the subprime mortgages.
US SOVEREIGN BOND ISSUANCES
On the other hand, the refinancing needs of sovereign debt reached a record level of around 13,500 billion dollars in OECD countries, compared to 12,000 billion USD in 2024, and are expected to increase by another 1,000 billion USD in 2026, or 19% of GDP. The United States and Japan alone represent almost 80% of the total. “However, while Japan’s share decreased from 16% in 2020 to 7% in 2025, that of the United States increased from 57% to 70%,” notes the report.
In emerging countries, sovereign bond issuances also reached a record level in 2025, totaling 3,400 billion dollars, a 21% increase from 2024, bringing the total outstanding public debt to 12,100 billion dollars, an unprecedented amount.
Finally, borrowings issued on financial markets by private sector businesses reached an unprecedented volume of 13,700 billion dollars in 2025, bringing their total debt stock to 59,500 billion dollars, with 36,400 billion in bonds and 23,100 billion in syndicated loans. “Given the magnitude of the necessary investment expenses to finance AI development, corporate borrowing needs are expected to continue to increase significantly in the future,” according to the OECD report.
