The person widely recognized as having the world's largest individual debt is Jérôme Kerviel, a former French trader who owes billions to Société Générale after making unauthorized, massive speculative trades, though the exact amount varies by report, often cited around $4.9 to $6.3 billion, making it an effectively unpayable debt.
He doesn't always lose money. But when he does, he loses more than $6 billion. He is ... the most indebted man in the world. Jérôme Kerviel is learning one of life's harsher lessons: It stinks to be $6.3 billion in debt.
Jérôme Kerviel (French pronunciation: [ʒeʁom kɛʁvjɛl]; born 11 January 1977) is a French rogue trader who was convicted and imprisoned in the 2008 Société Générale trading loss for breach of trust, forgery and unauthorized use of the bank's computers, resulting in losses valued at €4.9 billion.
In this article, we are talking about J r me Kerviel, a Frenchman who is now considered to be the world's poorest and most indebted person. He is buried under a debt of nearly Rs 4.95 lakh crore (around $6.7 billion). Being poor does not always mean empty pockets.
He advocates for using what he calls "good debt" as leverage to buy financial assets such as real estate. In January 2024, Kiyosaki stated that he had more than $1 billion in debt.Additionally, he is a strong proponent of buying gold and silver, often referring to them as "God's money."
As the world's biggest gambling hub, Macao SAR has zero debt, bolstered by billions in gaming revenue and healthy financial reserves. Liechtenstein ranks in second, with virtually no debt and the only country in Europe ranking in the top 10.
Five billionaires who started with nothing include Jan Koum, founder of WhatsApp; Oprah Winfrey, media mogul; Ingvar Kamprad, IKEA founder; Do Won and Jin Sook Chang, co-founders of Forever 21; and Roman Abramovich, Chelsea Football Club owner. Each overcame significant hardships to achieve extraordinary success.
Jerome Kerviel: The most indebted person in the world, owes $4.9 billion. Under the breeze of today's dropping economy, you might find it hard to repay $5,000 even if given some period. You might try to escape leaving everything behind if you find that you need to pay off $1, 00,000 in debt.
Kareem Serageldin (/ˈsɛrəɡɛldɪn/) (born in 1973) is a former executive at Credit Suisse. He is notable for being the only banker in the United States to be sentenced to jail time as a result of the 2008 financial crisis, a conviction resulting from mismarking bond prices to hide losses.
Kerviel acted alone, but experts wonder how that could be possible, given the checks and balances at financial institutions.
Actor Michael Sheen used £100,000 (about $129,000) of his own money to buy and then write off £1 million (around $1.3 million) in debt for over 900 families in his hometown of South Wales, highlighting issues with the debt industry and giving people a financial fresh start, documented in Michael Sheen's Secret Million Pound Giveaway. He purchased the debts at a discount and canceled them, a move that brought attention to the struggles faced by his community, particularly after the local steelworks closed.
1 United States 21,764,799 2 Euro area 18,075,643 3 United Kingdom 9,837,535 4 France 7,368,685 5 Norway 7,110,029 6 Germany 6,6,91,139 7 Japan 4,687,815 8 Netherlands 4,197,719 9 Luxembourg 3,965,300 10 Italy 2,749,75 https://www.ceicdata. com/en/indicator/norway/external-debt--of-nominal- gdp https://www.gfmag.com/ ...
As of late 2025, Shayne Coplan, the 27-year-old founder of the prediction market platform Polymarket, became the world's youngest self-made billionaire after a major investment from the NYSE's parent company, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), valuing his stake at over $1 billion. Another prominent young figure is YouTuber MrBeast (Jimmy Donaldson), also 27, who is considered the only self-made billionaire under 30 (not inheriting wealth) through his content empire, though his personal cash flow differs from his company's valuation.
Yet tracks every penny. This is the incredible story of John D. Rockefeller.
United States. The United States is the world's richest country by a wide margin. It's a global hub for finance, tech, energy, and entertainment.
Consequently, China's stake in U.S. debt has more of a binding than a dividing effect on bilateral relations between the two countries. Even if China wished to “call in” its loans, the use of credit as a coercive measure is complicated and often heavily constrained.
If your debt ratio does not exceed 30%, the banks will find it excellent. Your ratio shows that if you manage your daily expenses well, you should be able to pay off your debts without worry or penalty. A debt ratio between 30% and 36% is also considered good.