At the end of the third quarter of 2013, the government debt to GDP ratio in the euro area (EA17) stood at 92.7%, compared with 93.4% at the end of the second quarter of 2013, the first fall in absolute terms since the fourth quarter of 2007. In the EU28 the ratio increased from 86.7% to 86.8%, mainly due to exchange rate effects. Compared with the third quarter of 2012, the government debt to GDP ratio rose in both the euro area (from 90.0% to 92.7%) and the EU28 (from 84.9% to 86.8%).
The highest ratios of government debt to GDP at the end of the third quarter of 2013 were recorded in Greece (171.8%), Italy (132.9%), Portugal (128.7%) and Ireland (124.8%), and the lowest in Estonia (10.0%), Bulgaria (17.3%) and Luxembourg (27.7%).
Compared with the second quarter of 2013, ten Member States registered an increase in their debt to GDP ratio at the end of the third quarter of 2013, seventeen a decrease and Slovenia no change. The highest increases in the ratio were recorded in Cyprus (+11.0 percentage points – pp), Luxembourg (+4.6 pp) and Greece (+3.0 pp). The largest decreases were recorded in Portugal (-2.6 pp), Finland (-2.5 pp), Belgium (-1.5 pp), Germany (-1.4 pp) and Hungary (-1.3 pp).
Compared with the third quarter of 2012, twenty-three Member States registered an increase in their debt to GDP ratio at the end of the third quarter of 2013, and five a decrease. The highest increases in the ratio were recorded in Cyprus (+25.3 pp), Greece (+19.9 pp), Spain (+14.3 pp) and Slovenia (+14.1 pp), while decreases were recorded in Germany (-2.8 pp), Latvia (-2.0 pp), Bulgaria (-1.4 pp), Denmark (-0.9 pp) and Lithuania (-0.8 pp).
Source: http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/