A slopegraph of government debt at four historical hinges reveals how radically trajectories diverged. Greece and Portugal ballooned through the euro crisis then deleveraged painfully under austerity — Greece crossed 200% before retreating to 163%. Australia and Spain entered 2007 with modest debt but were transformed by the financial crisis and COVID spending. Germany is a rare success: it deleveraged 12 percentage points between its post-GFC peak and COVID, and by 2024 its debt has fallen to 62% — below its pre-crisis 2007 level. The 60% and 90% lines mark the EU Stability Pact target and the Reinhart–Rogoff growth-drag threshold. Hover any country for the full trajectory.
Source: IMF World Economic Outlook 2024 · Indicator: GGXWDG_NGDP · schema: country_year_indicators.csv