Having debt doesn’t mean that a country is poorly run or financially unstable – in fact, some of the world’s biggest economic powers have a lot of it. But there is a fine line between a healthy and unhealthy amount. In 2010, the World Bank published a study which revealed that a 77% debt-to-GDP ratio was the tipping point for developed economies, and a 64% ratio for emerging markets. Countries which stayed above this threshold for long periods saw significant slowdowns in economic growth. Using the most recent data estimates from the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) World Economic Outlook (October 2020), click or scroll through the most in-debt nations on the planet.

Countries with economies smaller than $10 billion (£7.4bn) GDP are not included and figures are based on gross debt. All dollar amounts are US dollars.