Greece had the second largest reduction in public debt in the European Union in 2023, according to Eurostat. As the Authority’s data showed, general government debt fell by 10.8 percentage points to 161.9% of GDP in 2023 from 172.7% in 2022.
However, the country’s debt decreased because a decrease was recorded in the deficit of the general government (including interest) to 3.5 billion euros / 1.6% of GDP from 5.1 billion euros / 2.5% of GDP in 2022. According to Eurostat, the deficit reduction it resulted from the largest fall in public spending to 50.5% from 53.1% in 2022 – against a decline in government revenue to 48.9% from 50.6%.
However, Portugal emerged as the champion of this reduction. While in terms of absolute numbers, the reduction of Greece’s debt was about 100 million euros. The debt of our country amounted to 356.695 billion. EUR in 2023 from EUR 356.796 billion in 2022. However, the decrease as a percentage of GDP was significant because nominal GDP increased to EUR 220.3 billion in 2023 from EUR 206.6 billion in 2022.
What Eurostat figures show about the debt of other EU countries
Of particular interest are Eurostat’s data on the debt of other EU countries besides Greece.
Analytically, the highest debt in the European Union after Greece, Italy (137.3%), France (110.6%), Spain (107.7%) and Belgium (105.2%) showed while the lowest Estonia (19.6%), Bulgaria (23.1%), Luxembourg (25.7%) and Denmark (29.3%) had debt. In relation to the third quarter of 2023, Greece also recorded the second largest decrease, after Portugal, namely by 3.7 percentage points.
See the relevant Eurostat tables below
