Ranked: The 35 Countries with the Highest Household Debt

Charted: The 35 Countries with the Highest Household Debt

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The International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently released data showing the countries with the highest levels of household debt, defined as loans and debt securities incurred by households, expressed as a percentage of GDP. The metric is often used as a barometer for financial risk and vulnerability at the household level.

Household debt typically includes mortgages, car loans, credit card debt, and personal loans. While some level of debt can stimulate economic growth through consumption and investment, excessive debt levels can lead to long-term financial instability, especially when interest rates rise or during economic downturns.

Today’s visualization breaks down the top 35 countries with the highest household debt levels, and was made by Iswardi Ishak using IMF data.

The Data: Countries With the Most Household Debt

Below is data for the 71 countries in the dataset:

Rank	Country/Territory	Household debt (% of GDP)
1	Switzerland	125.4
2	Australia	112.2
3	Canada	100.1
4	Netherlands	93.6
5	New Zealand	90.3
6	South Korea	90.1
7	Norway	88.6
8	Hong Kong	88.0
9	Denmark	85.2
10	Sweden	82.7
11	United Kingdom	76.2
12	Malaysia	69.5
13	United States	69.4
14	Japan	65.1
15	Finland	63.3
16	Luxembourg	61.9
17	China	61.4
18	France	60.5
19	Cyprus	59.6
20	Belgium	57.4
21	Portugal	53.3
22	Germany	49.9
23	Malta	48.7
24	Chile	44.8
25	Singapore	44.3
26	Austria	44.0
27	Spain	43.7
28	Slovakia	43.4
29	Israel	42.3
30	India	40.8
31	Honduras	39.7
32	Greece	38.8
33	Estonia	38.4
34	Brazil	36.4
35	Italy	36.1
36	Saudi Arabia	35.3
37	South Africa	33.7
38	Nepal	32.5
39	Czech Republic	30.8
40	Vanuatu	30.6
41	Croatia	30.3
42	Ireland	29.6
43	El Salvador	28.0
44	North Macedonia	27.1
45	Costa Rica	26.8
46	Bulgaria	25.9
47	Colombia	25.7
48	Morocco	25.6
49	United Arab Emirates	24.8
50	Slovenia	24.3
51	Poland	22.9
52	Russia	22.2
53	Lithuania	22.0
54	Samoa	20.0
55	Latvia	19.4
56	Lesotho	17.2
57	Kazakhstan	17.1
58	Hungary	17.0
59	Mexico	16.7
60	Nicaragua	16.5
61	Indonesia	16.2
62	Albania	12.8
63	Romania	10.8
64	Türkiye	9.6
65	Solomon Islands	8.6
66	Paraguay	6.6
67	Bangladesh	6.2
68	Suriname	5.1
69	Argentina	4.7
70	Pakistan	2.1
71	Sierra Leone	0.0

At the top of the chart is Switzerland, where household debt amounts to 125% of GDP. It’s followed by Australia (112%) and Canada (100%), two countries known for overheated housing markets.

On the other end of the list, countries like Brazil and Italy show far lower household debt burdens relative to their GDP, both below 37%.

Why High Household Debt Can Be Risky

While credit access enables household consumption and property ownership, it also creates exposure to economic shocks. High household debt can constrain economic growth when families divert income to servicing debt rather than spending or saving. It also increases sensitivity to interest rate hikes, which raise repayment costs.

In fact, research from the Leibniz Institute for Financial Research highlights how household debt, when misaligned with wage growth or asset prices, can trigger financial instability.

As the study notes: “In the event of economic shocks, high household debt levels result in non‑performing loans that weaken bank balance sheets and spread to other financial institutions through the contagion effect. This could result in an unstable financial sector that restricts lending to profitable investments and deserving households. Ultimately, household consumption and investment decrease, thereby lowering economic growth.”

In short, elevated household debt goes beyond being a macroeconomic statistic, and has the potential to amplify downturns and reduce resilience at both the household and national level.

Household Debt in Context

The distribution of household debt also ties into broader macroeconomic trends. Anglophone nations like the U.S., Canada, Australia, and the UK exhibit higher debt levels due to hot property markets, and cultural factors favoring homeownership and financial liberalization.

Meanwhile, in the United States, household finances vary drastically by state.

High household debt doesn’t always indicate looming trouble, but it does warrant careful monitoring, especially in environments of rising rates or slowing economic growth.

Learn More on the Voronoi App

Explore more data visuals like this on the Voronoi app. For example, see The World’s $111 Trillion in Government Debt.

• Source: https://www.visualcapitalist.com/cp/35-countries-with-highest-household-debt/