Economy · Africa ranking
Public Debt by African country
General government gross debt as a percentage of GDP. Latest reported value for 52 of 54 countries, ranked. Every row links to the full national series with history and sources.
Full ranking
| # | Country | Public Debt | Period |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Eritrea | 260.4% | 2019 |
| 2 | Sudan | 169.1% | 2026 |
| 3 | Senegal | 132.3% | 2026 |
| 4 | Mozambique | 106.1% | 2026 |
| 5 | Cabo Verde | 95.9% | 2026 |
| 6 | Republic of the Congo | 91.3% | 2026 |
| 7 | Egypt | 87% | 2026 |
| 8 | Mauritius | 86.5% | 2026 |
| 9 | Gabon | 86.1% | 2026 |
| 10 | Zambia | 86% | 2025 |
| 11 | Tunisia | 84.9% | 2026 |
| 12 | South Africa | 78.9% | 2026 |
| 13 | Malawi | 74.5% | 2026 |
| 14 | Guinea-Bissau | 73.6% | 2026 |
| 15 | Kenya | 71.6% | 2026 |
| 16 | Namibia | 70.5% | 2026 |
| 17 | Gambia | 68.3% | 2026 |
| 18 | Rwanda | 66.8% | 2026 |
| 19 | Morocco | 65.8% | 2026 |
| 20 | Togo | 64.7% | 2026 |
| 21 | Central African Republic | 64% | 2026 |
| 22 | Algeria | 59.2% | 2026 |
| 23 | South Sudan | 57.3% | 2026 |
| 24 | Benin | 57.2% | 2026 |
| 25 | Cote d'Ivoire | 55.1% | 2026 |
| 26 | Seychelles | 55% | 2026 |
| 27 | Uganda | 55% | 2026 |
| 28 | Liberia | 53.8% | 2026 |
| 29 | Ghana | 53% | 2026 |
| 30 | Angola | 51.6% | 2026 |
| 31 | Sao Tome and Principe | 50.4% | 2026 |
| 32 | Eswatini | 50% | 2026 |
| 33 | Madagascar | 49.3% | 2026 |
| 34 | Lesotho | 49% | 2026 |
| 35 | Burkina Faso | 48.8% | 2026 |
| 36 | Tanzania | 48.7% | 2026 |
| 37 | Botswana | 47% | 2026 |
| 38 | Niger | 45.5% | 2026 |
| 39 | Guinea | 44.7% | 2026 |
| 40 | Sierra Leone | 44.3% | 2026 |
| 41 | Zimbabwe | 42.3% | 2026 |
| 42 | Mali | 40.8% | 2026 |
| 43 | Ethiopia | 40.4% | 2026 |
| 44 | Cameroon | 39.3% | 2026 |
| 45 | Equatorial Guinea | 39.1% | 2026 |
| 46 | Mauritania | 37.1% | 2026 |
| 47 | Burundi | 37% | 2026 |
| 48 | Comoros | 32.4% | 2026 |
| 49 | Nigeria | 32.3% | 2026 |
| 50 | Chad | 29.9% | 2026 |
| 51 | Djibouti | 29.6% | 2026 |
| 52 | Democratic Republic of the Congo | 24.6% | 2026 |
Get this ranking via API
One call to /v1/data returns the latest Public Debt figure for every country you pass — JSON, with source metadata on each observation.
curl "https://api.africa-api.com/v1/data?metric_key=public_debt_pct_gdp&latest=true&country_codes=NG,KE,ZA,EG" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $AFRICA_API_KEY"Frequently asked questions
Which African country has the highest general government debt as a share of GDP?
Eritrea has the highest general government debt as a share of GDP in Africa at 260.4% (2019), followed by Sudan and Senegal.
How many African countries report Public Debt data?
52 of 54 African countries have a recent Public Debt figure in the Africa API. Each value links to the country's full series with source and history.
How do I get this ranking via API?
Call GET /v1/data?metric_key=public_debt_pct_gdp&latest=true with the country codes you need and a free Africa API key — the response returns the latest value per country as JSON.