Quarterly government debt

Data - Eurostat

Author

François Geerolf

Info

source dataset Title .html .rData
eurostat gov_10q_ggdebt Quarterly government debt 2026-02-16 2026-02-15

LAST_COMPILE

LAST_COMPILE
2026-02-21

Last

Code 
gov_10q_ggdebt %>%
  group_by(time) %>%
  summarise(Nobs = n()) %>%
  arrange(desc(time)) %>%
  head(1) %>%
  print_table_conditional()
time Nobs
2025Q3 7613

unit

Code 
gov_10q_ggdebt %>%
  left_join(unit, by = "unit") %>%
  group_by(unit, Unit) %>%
  summarise(Nobs = n()) %>%
  arrange(-Nobs) %>%
  {if (is_html_output()) print_table(.) else .}
unit Unit Nobs
MIO_NAC Million units of national currency 210231
MIO_EUR Million euro 209192
PC_GDP Percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) 207470
PC_TOT Percentage of total 170310

sector

Code 
gov_10q_ggdebt %>%
  left_join(sector, by = "sector") %>%
  group_by(sector, Sector) %>%
  summarise(Nobs = n()) %>%
  arrange(-Nobs) %>%
  {if (is_html_output()) print_table(.) else .}
sector Sector Nobs
S13 General government 172882
S1312 State government 167540
S1314 Social security funds 149760
S1313 Local government 146536
S1311 Central government 146440
S13112 Central government other than budgetary central government 6536
S13111 Budgetary central government 6518
S11001 Public non-financial corporations 991

na_item

Code 
gov_10q_ggdebt %>%
  left_join(na_item, by = "na_item") %>%
  group_by(na_item, Na_item) %>%
  summarise(Nobs = n()) %>%
  arrange(-Nobs) %>%
  {if (is_html_output()) datatable(., filter = 'top', rownames = F) else .}

geo

Code 
gov_10q_ggdebt %>%
  left_join(geo, by = "geo") %>%
  group_by(geo, Geo) %>%
  summarise(Nobs = n()) %>%
  arrange(-Nobs) %>%
  mutate(Flag = gsub(" ", "-", str_to_lower(Geo)),
         Flag = paste0('<img src="../../bib/flags/vsmall/', Flag, '.png" alt="Flag">')) %>%
  select(Flag, everything()) %>%
  {if (is_html_output()) datatable(., filter = 'top', rownames = F, escape = F) else .}

time

Code 
gov_10q_ggdebt %>%
  group_by(time) %>%
  summarise(Nobs = n()) %>%
  arrange(desc(time)) %>%
  print_table_conditional()

EA-19, Deficit

Code 
gov_10q_ggdebt %>%
  filter(time %in% c("2022Q3", "2015Q1"),
         sector == "S13",
         unit == "PC_GDP",
         na_item == "GD") %>%
  select(geo, time, values) %>%
  spread(time, values) %>%
  left_join(geo, by = "geo") %>%
  mutate(Flag = gsub(" ", "-", str_to_lower(Geo)),
         Flag = paste0('<img src="../../bib/flags/vsmall/', Flag, '.png" alt="Flag">')) %>%
  select(Flag, Geo, geo, everything()) %>%
  arrange(-`2022Q3`) %>%
  {if (is_html_output()) datatable(., filter = 'top', rownames = F, escape = F) else .}

Last

Debt

Code 
gov_10q_ggdebt %>%
  filter(sector == "S13",
         unit == "PC_GDP",
         na_item == "GD") %>%
  group_by(geo) %>%
  filter(time == max(time)) %>%
  left_join(geo, by = "geo") %>%
  select_if(~ n_distinct(.) > 1) %>%
  arrange(values) %>%
  select(geo, Geo, everything()) %>%
  print_table_conditional()

Italy, Portugal, Greece, France, Europe

Gross Debt

2005-

Code 
gov_10q_ggdebt %>%
  filter(sector == "S13",
         unit == "PC_GDP",
         na_item == "GD",
         geo %in% c("IT", "PT", "EL", "FR", "EA19")) %>%
  left_join(geo, by = "geo") %>%
  quarter_to_date() %>%
  mutate(values = values / 100,
         Geo = ifelse(geo == "EA19", "Europe", Geo)) %>%
  left_join(colors, by = c("Geo" = "country")) %>%
  filter(date >= as.Date("2005-01-01")) %>%
  ggplot(.) + theme_minimal() + xlab("") + ylab("Public debt (years of GDP)") +
  geom_line(aes(x = date, y = values, color = color)) +
  scale_color_identity() + add_5flags +
  theme(legend.position = c(0.2, 0.85),
        legend.title = element_blank()) +
  scale_y_continuous(breaks = 0.01*seq(0, 260, 20),
                     labels = scales::dollar_format(acc = .1, pre = "", su = " y")) +
  scale_x_date(breaks = as.Date(paste0(seq(1990, 2025, 2), "-01-01")),
               labels = date_format("%Y"))

Luxembourg, Denmark, Sweden, Netherlands, Germany, France

All

English

Code 
gov_10q_ggdebt %>%
  filter(sector == "S13",
         unit == "PC_GDP",
         na_item == "GD",
         geo %in% c("NL", "LU", "DK", "SE", "FR", "DE")) %>%
  left_join(geo, by = "geo") %>%
  quarter_to_date() %>%
  left_join(colors, by = c("Geo" = "country")) %>%
  mutate(values = values / 100) %>%
  ggplot(.) + theme_minimal() + xlab("") + ylab("Public debt (years of GDP)") +
  geom_line(aes(x = date, y = values, color = color)) +
  scale_color_identity() + add_6flags +
  theme(legend.position = c(0.2, 0.85),
        legend.title = element_blank()) +
  scale_y_continuous(breaks = 0.01*seq(0, 260, 10),
                     labels = scales::dollar_format(acc = .1, pre = "", su = " year")) +
  scale_x_date(breaks = as.Date(paste0(seq(1700, 2050, 2), "-01-01")),
               labels = date_format("%Y"))

French

Code 
gov_10q_ggdebt %>%
  filter(sector == "S13",
         unit == "PC_GDP",
         na_item == "GD",
         geo %in% c("NL", "LU", "DK", "SE", "FR", "DE")) %>%
  left_join(geo, by = "geo") %>%
  quarter_to_date() %>%
  left_join(colors, by = c("Geo" = "country")) %>%
  mutate(values = values / 100) %>%
  ggplot(.) + theme_minimal() + xlab("") + ylab("Dette publique (années de PIB)") +
  geom_line(aes(x = date, y = values, color = color)) +
  scale_color_identity() + add_6flags +
  theme(legend.position = c(0.2, 0.85),
        legend.title = element_blank()) +
  scale_y_continuous(breaks = 0.01*seq(0, 260, 10),
                     labels = scales::dollar_format(acc = .1, pre = "", su = " année")) +
  scale_x_date(breaks = as.Date(paste0(seq(1700, 2050, 2), "-01-01")),
               labels = date_format("%Y"))

2000-

Code 
gov_10q_ggdebt %>%
  filter(sector == "S13",
         unit == "PC_GDP",
         na_item == "GD",
         geo %in% c("NL", "LU", "DK", "SE", "FR", "DE")) %>%
  left_join(geo, by = "geo") %>%
  quarter_to_date() %>%
  left_join(colors, by = c("Geo" = "country")) %>%
  mutate(values = values / 100) %>%
  filter(date >= as.Date("2000-01-01")) %>%
  ggplot(.) + theme_minimal() + xlab("") + ylab("Public debt (years of GDP)") +
  geom_line(aes(x = date, y = values, color = color)) +
  scale_color_identity() + add_6flags +
  theme(legend.position = c(0.2, 0.85),
        legend.title = element_blank()) +
  scale_y_continuous(breaks = 0.01*seq(0, 260, 10),
                     labels = scales::dollar_format(acc = .1, pre = "", su = " year")) +
  scale_x_date(breaks = as.Date(paste0(seq(1700, 2050, 2), "-01-01")),
               labels = date_format("%Y"))

France, Germany

All

English

Code 
gov_10q_ggdebt %>%
  filter(sector == "S13",
         unit == "PC_GDP",
         na_item == "GD",
         geo %in% c("FR", "DE")) %>%
  left_join(geo, by = "geo") %>%
  quarter_to_date() %>%
  left_join(colors, by = c("Geo" = "country")) %>%
  mutate(values = values / 100) %>%
  ggplot(.) + theme_minimal() + xlab("") + ylab("Public debt (years of GDP)") +
  geom_line(aes(x = date, y = values, color = color)) +
  scale_color_identity() + add_2flags +
  theme(legend.position = c(0.2, 0.85),
        legend.title = element_blank()) +
  scale_y_continuous(breaks = 0.01*seq(0, 260, 10),
                     labels = scales::dollar_format(acc = .1, pre = "", su = " y")) +
  scale_x_date(breaks = as.Date(paste0(seq(1700, 2050, 2), "-01-01")),
               labels = date_format("%Y"))

French

Code 
gov_10q_ggdebt %>%
  filter(sector == "S13",
         unit == "PC_GDP",
         na_item == "GD",
         geo %in% c("FR", "DE")) %>%
  left_join(geo, by = "geo") %>%
  quarter_to_date() %>%
  left_join(colors, by = c("Geo" = "country")) %>%
  mutate(values = values / 100) %>%
  ggplot(.) + theme_minimal() + xlab("") + ylab("Dette publique (années de PIB)") +
  geom_line(aes(x = date, y = values, color = color)) +
  scale_color_identity() + add_2flags +
  theme(legend.position = c(0.2, 0.85),
        legend.title = element_blank()) +
  scale_y_continuous(breaks = 0.01*seq(0, 260, 10),
                     labels = scales::dollar_format(acc = .1, pre = "", su = " année")) +
  scale_x_date(breaks = as.Date(paste0(seq(1700, 2050, 2), "-01-01")),
               labels = date_format("%Y"))

France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Netherlands

All

Code 
gov_10q_ggdebt %>%
  filter(sector == "S13",
         unit == "PC_GDP",
         na_item == "GD",
         geo %in% c("FR", "DE", "IT", "ES", "NL")) %>%
  left_join(geo, by = "geo") %>%
  quarter_to_date() %>%
  left_join(colors, by = c("Geo" = "country")) %>%
  mutate(values = values / 100) %>%
  ggplot(.) + theme_minimal() + xlab("") + ylab("Public debt (years of GDP)") +
  geom_line(aes(x = date, y = values, color = color)) +
  scale_color_identity() + add_5flags +
  theme(legend.position = c(0.2, 0.85),
        legend.title = element_blank()) +
  scale_y_continuous(breaks = 0.01*seq(0, 260, 20),
                     labels = scales::dollar_format(acc = .1, pre = "", su = " y")) +
  scale_x_date(breaks = as.Date(paste0(seq(1700, 2050, 2), "-01-01")),
               labels = date_format("%Y"))

Italy, Portugal, Spain, Greece, Belgium, France

All

English

Code 
gov_10q_ggdebt %>%
  filter(sector == "S13",
         unit == "PC_GDP",
         na_item == "GD",
         geo %in% c("IT", "PT", "ES", "EL", "BE", "FR")) %>%
  left_join(geo, by = "geo") %>%
  quarter_to_date() %>%
  left_join(colors, by = c("Geo" = "country")) %>%
  mutate(values = values / 100) %>%
  ggplot(.) + theme_minimal() + xlab("") + ylab("Public debt (years of GDP)") +
  geom_line(aes(x = date, y = values, color = color)) +
  scale_color_identity() + add_6flags +
  theme(legend.position = c(0.2, 0.85),
        legend.title = element_blank()) +
  scale_y_continuous(breaks = 0.01*seq(0, 260, 20),
                     labels = scales::dollar_format(acc = .1, pre = "", su = " y")) +
  scale_x_date(breaks = as.Date(paste0(seq(1700, 2050, 2), "-01-01")),
               labels = date_format("%Y"))

French

Code 
gov_10q_ggdebt %>%
  filter(sector == "S13",
         unit == "PC_GDP",
         na_item == "GD",
         geo %in% c("IT", "PT", "ES", "EL", "BE", "FR")) %>%
  left_join(geo, by = "geo") %>%
  quarter_to_date() %>%
  left_join(colors, by = c("Geo" = "country")) %>%
  mutate(values = values / 100) %>%
  ggplot(.) + theme_minimal() + xlab("") + ylab("Dette publique") +
  geom_line(aes(x = date, y = values, color = color)) +
  scale_color_identity() + add_6flags +
  theme(legend.position = c(0.2, 0.85),
        legend.title = element_blank()) +
  scale_y_continuous(breaks = 0.01*seq(0, 260, 20),
                     labels = scales::dollar_format(acc = .1, pre = "", su = " année")) +
  scale_x_date(breaks = as.Date(paste0(seq(1700, 2050, 2), "-01-01")),
               labels = date_format("%Y"))

2000-

Code 
gov_10q_ggdebt %>%
  filter(sector == "S13",
         unit == "PC_GDP",
         na_item == "GD",
         geo %in% c("IT", "PT", "ES", "EL", "BE", "FR")) %>%
  left_join(geo, by = "geo") %>%
  quarter_to_date() %>%
  filter(date >= as.Date("2000-01-01")) %>%
  left_join(colors, by = c("Geo" = "country")) %>%
  mutate(values = values / 100) %>%
  ggplot(.) + theme_minimal() + xlab("") + ylab("Public debt (years of GDP)") +
  geom_line(aes(x = date, y = values, color = color)) +
  scale_color_identity() + add_6flags +
  theme(legend.position = c(0.2, 0.85),
        legend.title = element_blank()) +
  scale_y_continuous(breaks = 0.01*seq(0, 260, 10),
                     labels = scales::dollar_format(acc = .1, pre = "", su = " y")) +
  scale_x_date(breaks = as.Date(paste0(seq(1700, 2050, 2), "-01-01")),
               labels = date_format("%Y"))

2005

Years of GDP

Code 
gov_10q_ggdebt %>%
  filter(sector == "S13",
         unit == "PC_GDP",
         na_item == "GD",
         geo %in% c("IT", "PT", "ES", "EL", "BE", "FR", "EA19")) %>%
  left_join(geo, by = "geo") %>%
  quarter_to_date() %>%
  mutate(values = values / 100,
         Geo = ifelse(geo == "EA19", "Europe", Geo)) %>%
  left_join(colors, by = c("Geo" = "country")) %>%
  filter(date >= as.Date("2005-01-01")) %>%
  ggplot(.) + theme_minimal() + xlab("") + ylab("Public debt (years of GDP)") +
  geom_line(aes(x = date, y = values, color = color)) +
  scale_color_identity() + add_7flags +
  theme(legend.position = c(0.2, 0.85),
        legend.title = element_blank()) +
  scale_y_continuous(breaks = 0.01*seq(0, 260, 20),
                     labels = scales::dollar_format(acc = .1, pre = "", su = " y")) +
  scale_x_date(breaks = as.Date(paste0(seq(1990, 2025, 2), "-01-01")),
               labels = date_format("%Y"))

2015

Years of GDP

Code 
gov_10q_ggdebt %>%
  filter(sector == "S13",
         unit == "PC_GDP",
         na_item == "GD",
         geo %in% c("IT", "PT", "NL", "ES", "FR", "EA19")) %>%
  left_join(geo, by = "geo") %>%
  quarter_to_date() %>%
  mutate(values = values / 100,
         Geo = ifelse(geo == "EA19", "Europe", Geo)) %>%
  left_join(colors, by = c("Geo" = "country")) %>%
  filter(date >= as.Date("2015-01-01")) %>%
  ggplot(.) + theme_minimal() + xlab("") + ylab("Public debt (years of GDP)") +
  geom_line(aes(x = date, y = values, color = color)) +
  scale_color_identity() + add_6flags +
  theme(legend.position = c(0.2, 0.85),
        legend.title = element_blank()) +
  scale_y_continuous(breaks = 0.01*seq(0, 260, 20),
                     labels = scales::dollar_format(acc = .1, pre = "", su = " y")) +
  scale_x_date(breaks = as.Date(paste0(seq(2015, 2025, 1), "-01-01")),
               labels = date_format("%Y"))

% of GDP…

Code 
gov_10q_ggdebt %>%
  filter(sector == "S13",
         unit == "PC_GDP",
         na_item == "GD",
         geo %in% c("IT", "PT", "ES", "EL", "BE", "FR", "EA19")) %>%
  left_join(geo, by = "geo") %>%
  quarter_to_date() %>%
  mutate(values = values / 100,
         Geo = ifelse(geo == "EA19", "Europe", Geo)) %>%
  left_join(colors, by = c("Geo" = "country")) %>%
  filter(date >= as.Date("2015-01-01")) %>%
  ggplot(.) + theme_minimal() + xlab("") + ylab("Public debt (% of GDP)") +
  geom_line(aes(x = date, y = values, color = color)) +
  scale_color_identity() + add_7flags +
  theme(legend.position = c(0.2, 0.85),
        legend.title = element_blank()) +
  scale_y_continuous(breaks = 0.01*seq(0, 260, 20),
                     labels = scales::percent_format()) +
  scale_x_date(breaks = as.Date(paste0(seq(2015, 2025, 1), "-01-01")),
               labels = date_format("%Y"))

2019

Years of GDP

Code 
gov_10q_ggdebt %>%
  filter(sector == "S13",
         unit == "PC_GDP",
         na_item == "GD",
         geo %in% c("IT", "PT", "NL", "ES", "FR", "EA19")) %>%
  left_join(geo, by = "geo") %>%
  quarter_to_date() %>%
  mutate(values = values / 100,
         Geo = ifelse(geo == "EA19", "Europe", Geo)) %>%
  left_join(colors, by = c("Geo" = "country")) %>%
  filter(date >= as.Date("2019-01-01")) %>%
  ggplot(.) + theme_minimal() + xlab("") + ylab("Public debt (years of GDP)") +
  geom_line(aes(x = date, y = values, color = color)) +
  scale_color_identity() + add_6flags +
  theme(legend.position = c(0.2, 0.85),
        legend.title = element_blank(),
        axis.text.x = element_text(angle = 45, vjust = 1, hjust = 1)) +
  scale_y_continuous(breaks = 0.01*seq(0, 260, 20),
                     labels = scales::dollar_format(acc = .1, pre = "", su = " y")) +
  scale_x_date(breaks = "3 months",
               labels = date_format("%b %Y"))

% of GDP…

Code 
gov_10q_ggdebt %>%
  filter(sector == "S13",
         unit == "PC_GDP",
         na_item == "GD",
         geo %in% c("IT", "PT", "ES", "EL", "FR", "EA19")) %>%
  left_join(geo, by = "geo") %>%
  quarter_to_date() %>%
  mutate(values = values / 100,
         Geo = ifelse(geo == "EA19", "Europe", Geo)) %>%
  left_join(colors, by = c("Geo" = "country")) %>%
  filter(date >= as.Date("2019-01-01")) %>%
  ggplot(.) + theme_minimal() + xlab("") + ylab("Public debt (% of GDP)") +
  geom_line(aes(x = date, y = values, color = color)) +
  scale_color_identity() + add_6flags +
  theme(legend.position = c(0.2, 0.85),
        legend.title = element_blank(),
        axis.text.x = element_text(angle = 45, vjust = 1, hjust = 1)) +
  scale_y_continuous(breaks = 0.01*seq(0, 260, 20),
                     labels = scales::percent_format()) +
  scale_x_date(breaks = "3 months",
               labels = date_format("%b %Y"))