Countries With the Largest Debt to GDP Ratios

Public Debt for the purposes of this quiz means debt held by the federal government. It does not include the debt of individual citizens, and if it did then I think the US probably would be on the list as Americans tend to carry a lot of debt.

Of course economists rarely agree on anything and there is debate as to how much national debt is healthy for an economy, but most concur that carrying some debt is actually a good thing for various reasons, but that once that debt starts to exceed about 100% of GDP (this part is debated) it can cause problems.

Yes, the US talks a lot about its debt crisis, but the US also has an enormous and robust economy and a gargantuan GDP. Compared to many nations on this list the American economy is very healthy. While there is certainly some cause for concern about rising deficits in the USA, mostly this is exaggerated by those who wish to use fear of debt as an excuse to dismantle parts of the government they don't like.

As to Japan's currency concerns, this is part of it. Inflation can actually be a good thing for countries with large national debts as it helps mitigate the cost of paying interest, but the Yen has been very strong lately which is bad for the debt and also means Japanese exports are less attractive overseas; big problem because overseas exports are a huge part of the Japanese economy. However the main reason Japan's public debt is so high is because the government there believes in very aggressive public spending programs. Economists are split on whether or not this will ultimately be good or bad for Japan and also on whether or not the Japanese economy has performed well or badly over the last two decades.

There are different ways to measure and I'm not sure I understand the difference but I was using the CIA data here.

Using the IMF data the USA ranks higher on the list, 11th or 12th worldwide.

According to you, maybe, but ask someone else and you'll get a different answer. Continental classification is highly subjective.

Nice to have fans.

I could. But I rarely make quizzes any more. Maybe you ought to try making that one?