Is it an indication of financial stability? Not always. There is only one “debt-free” country as per the IMF database. For many countries, the unusually low national debt could be due to failing to report actual figures to the IMF.
Brunei is one of the countries with the lowest debt. It has a debt to GDP ratio of 2.46 percent among a population of 439,000 people, which makes it the world's country with the lowest debt. Brunei is a very small country located in southeast Asia.
Every country issues debt, however some nations lend more debt to other nations than they owe. See the charts below from financialranks (sourced from IMF) for the world's largest creditor and debtor nations. As you can see, China, for example, lends far more to other nations than it borrows.
Japan, with its population of 127,185,332, has the highest national debt in the world at 234.18% of its GDP, followed by Greece at 181.78%.
The public debt of Japan has continued to rise in response to a number of challenges, including but not limited to the Global Financial Crisis in 2007-08, the Tōhoku Earthquake in 2011, and the COVID-19 pandemic beginning in late 2019 which also held ramifications for Tokyo's hosting of the 2020 Summer Olympics.
In 2020, the national debt of Russia amounted to around 280.12 billion U.S. dollars.
When a company fails to repay its debt, creditors file bankruptcy in the court of that country. The court then presides over the matter, and usually, the assets of the company are liquidated to pay off the creditors. ... They cannot forcibly take over a country's assets and neither can they compel the country to pay.
Breaking Down Ownership of US Debt
China owns about $1.1 trillion in U.S. debt, or a bit more than the amount Japan owns. Whether you're an American retiree or a Chinese bank, American debt is considered a sound investment. The Chinese yuan, like the currencies of many nations, is tied to the U.S. dollar.
But Japan's debt is different. It's mostly owed to the Japanese people in the form of government bonds. The Japanese government owes each of its citizens about 7.5 million yen. Since 95% of its debt is held domestically, its economy is not as precarious as it would be if it were debt to foreign countries.
The World Bank gets its funding from rich countries, as well as from the issuance of bonds on the world's capital markets. The World Bank serves two mandates: To end extreme poverty, by reducing the share of the global population that lives in extreme poverty to 3% by 2030.
At the end of 2020, China's foreign debt, including U.S. dollar debt, stood at roughly $2.4 trillion. Corporate debt is $27 trillion, while the country's total public debt exceeds 300 percent of GDP. ... As China's GDP has grown by less than 11 percent annually for the past 11 years, its debt is outpacing its GDP growth.
Foreign holders of United States treasury debt
Of the total 7.55 trillion held by foreign countries, Japan and Mainland China held the greatest portions. China held 1.05 trillion U.S. dollars in U.S. securities. Japan held 1.3 trillion U.S. dollars worth.
No, Singapore actually has zero net debt. IS THE SINGAPORE GOVERNMENT HEAVILY IN DEBT? One key principle underlying Singapore's long-term budgetary objectives is to maintain a balanced budget over a term of government. This explains the prudent approach to Singapore's fiscal policy.
For its part, China owned 191,000 acres worth $1.9 billion as of 2019. ... Indeed, there has been a tenfold expansion of Chinese ownership of farmland in the United States in less than a decade. Six states — Hawaii, Iowa, Minnesota, Mississippi, North Dakota and Oklahoma — currently ban foreign ownership of farmland.
The majority of federal revenue comes from individual and corporate income taxes as well as social insurance taxes. When individuals and corporations earn more money, they pay more in taxes, and thus federal revenue increases.
If it called in its debt, U.S. interest rates and prices could rise, slowing U.S. economic growth. On the other hand, if China called in its debt, the demand for the dollar could plummet. This dollar collapse could disrupt international markets even more than the 2008 financial crisis.
What happens if the U.S. defaults? If Congress doesn't suspend or raise the debt ceiling, the government would not be able to borrow additional funds to meet its obligations, including interest payments to bondholders. ... The dollar's value could collapse, and the U.S. economy would most likely sink back into recession.
There is only one “debt-free” country as per the IMF database. For many countries, the unusually low national debt could be due to failing to report actual figures to the IMF.
1. Many Countries Never Defaulted. There are a number of countries that have a pristine record of paying on sovereign debt obligations and have never defaulted in modern times. These nations include Canada, Denmark, Belgium, Finland, Malaysia, Mauritius, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, and England.
The federal net debt rose by $253.4 billion in 2020 to reach $942.5 billion or 42.7% of GDP, compared with 29.8% in 2019.
In 2020, the national debt of Mexico amounted to around 664.9 billion U.S. dollars.