Bulgaria ranked among the three EU Member States with the lowest government debt to GDP ratio in the first quarter of 2026, regaining its place after slipping out of the top three at the end of 2025, according to Eurostat data.
At the end of the first quarter, Bulgaria recorded a government debt to GDP ratio of 28.5%, placing it behind only Estonia (25.2%) and Denmark (26.8%). Luxembourg ranked next with 29.2%.
At the end of the fourth quarter of 2025, the lowest ratios were recorded in Estonia (24.1%), Luxembourg (26.5%), Denmark (27.9%), and Bulgaria (29.9%).
Compared with the fourth quarter of 2025, Bulgaria's government debt to GDP ratio declined by 1.3 percentage points (pp).
At the end of the first quarter of 2026, the general government gross debt to GDP ratio in the euro area (EA21) stood at 88.9%, an increase compared with 87.7% at the end of the fourth quarter of 2025. In the EU, the ratio also increased from 81.8% to 82.9%.
Compared with the first quarter of 2025, the government debt to GDP ratio increased in both the euro area (from 87.2% to 88.9%) and the EU (from 81.4% to 82.9%).
The largest increases in the ratio were observed in Hungary (+3.1 pp), Lithuania (+2.9 pp), Luxembourg (+2.8 pp), Ireland (+2.2 pp), Croatia (+2.1 pp), Austria (+2.0 pp), France and Poland (both +1.9 pp) and Italy (+1.8 pp). The largest decreases were recorded in Greece (-2.6 pp), Bulgaria (-1.3 pp), the Netherlands (-1.0 pp) and Slovenia (-0.9 pp).
On an annual basis, Bulgaria was among the EU Member States with the sharpest increases in government debt relative to GDP. Compared with the first quarter of 2025, its ratio rose by 4.8 pp, the second-largest increase in the bloc after Finland (+5.5 pp). Other notable increases were recorded in Poland (+4.5 pp), Romania (+4.3 pp), France (+4.0 pp), and Luxembourg and Belgium (both +3.1 pp).