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South Africa: Government debt (% of GDP)

Percent of GDP · 1865–2025 · 161 observations · forecasts to 2031 · govdebt_GDP

2025
78.6%percent of GDP
Change on 2024
+2.7 pointsfrom 76.0%
Average, 2016–2025
64.0%10 years
Record high and low
134.4% (1900)low 7.94% (1872)

Government debt (% of GDP)

Report error
0%20%40%60%80%100%120%140%1875190019251950197520002025South AfricaSouth Africa
ForecastPercent of GDP

Compare with other countries →Definition of Government debt (% of GDP)

Recent values

Percent of GDP

YearValue
203182.6Forecast
203082.2Forecast
202981.7Forecast
202880.9Forecast
202779.7Forecast
202678.9Forecast
202578.6
202476.0
202373.2
202270.7
202168.8
202068.9
201956.1
201851.5
201748.6
201647.1

Sources

This series is derived from other GMD variables.

Please cite: Müller, K., Xu, C., Lehbib, M., & Chen, Z. (2025). The Global Macro Database: A New International Macroeconomic Dataset. NBER Working Paper 33714. BibTeX →

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