Estonia has the lowest national debt in the EU

In the first quarter of 2017 and for all 2016, Estonia had the lowest national debt-to-GDP ratio in the whole European Union.

According to Eurostat, the pan-European statistics agency, Estonia’s national debt was 9.2% of the country’s GDP in the first quarter of 2017. In Q4 2016, the debt-to-GDP ratio was 9.5%, and in Q1 2016, 9.9%.

These figures make Estonia’s national debt-to-GDP ratio the absolute lowest in the whole bloc. For example, Luxembourg, which comes second, had a 23% debt-to-GDP ratio, and Bulgaria, that comes third, 28.6% in Q1 2017.

In Q1 2017, Estonia’s national debt was €1.97 billion, which is also the lowest amount of money owed by any EU country.

Greece had the highest national debt-to-GDP ratio in the EU – 176.2% in Q1 2017. Italy comes second (134.7%) and Portugal third (130.5%).

Looking at Estonia’s neighbours, none of them is doing particularly well in their debt-to-GDP ratios – Latvia 39%, Lithuania 39.3% and Finland 62.6%.

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Cover: Estonia piggy bank (the image is illustrative/Shutterstock).