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Countries with the highest external debt as % of GDP                                   
Current account balance
List of countries by in billions of U.S. dollars based on The World FactbookMost data are 2007 estimates.
The sum of all current account does not balance at zero, which could be caused by some of the included figures being incorrect and the omission of some of countries' data.
Gross external debt
Is defined as the tota l public and private debt owed to non-residents repayable in foreign currency, goods, or services.
(Note: The list below does not include all the countries in the sources used).
                             
                   
                       
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COUNTRY  Population
(millions)
GDP ($ billions)
CURRENT ACCOUNT
balance ($ billions)

EXTERNAL DEBT ($bllions)
CURRENT ACCOUNT 
balance (% of GDP)
HIGHEST EXTERNAL 
DEBTS 
(% of GDP)
Ireland 4.3 202 -13 1,841 6.2% 911.4%
Belgium 10.6 316 11 1,313 3.5% 415.5%
Un. Kingdom 60.6 2,772 -111 11,503 4.0% 415.0%
Netherlands 16.4 625 59 2,280 9.5% 364.8%
Swittzerland 7.7 423 68 1,340 16.1% 316.8%
Hong Kong 7.0 206 20 588 9.6% 285.4%
Norway 4.8 212 56 469 26.3% 221.2%
Austria 8.3 373 13 753 3.4% 201.9%
France 64.5 2,232 -36 4,396 1.6% 197.0%
Portugal 10.8 223 -19 416 8.3% 186.5%
Denmark 5.5 311 5 493 1.5% 158.5%
Spain 45.2 1,439 -126 2,047 8.8% 142.3%
Germany 82.0 3,320 185 4,489 5.6% 135.2%
Sweden 9.2 455 30 595 6.6% 130.8%
Italy 59.4 2,067 -58 2,345 2.8% 113.4%
Finland 5.3 245 17 271 7.0% 110.6%
Greece 11.2 362 -36 372 10.1% 102.8%
USA 304.0 13,794 -747 13,773 5.4% 99.8%
Australia 21.3 1,046 -51 758 4.9% 72.5%
Israel 7.3 154 6 87 3.9% 56.5%
Canada 33.0 1,432 28 791 2.0% 55.2%
Iraq 29.0 102 8 56 7.6% 54.9%
Uruguay 4.0 23 0 12 0.4% 52.2%
Qatar 1.5 68 8 31 11.4% 45.6%
Romania 22.2 188 -21 85 11.1% 45.2%
Argentina 40.7 261 11 118 4.3% 45.2%
Poland 38.0 420 -18 188 4.3% 44.8%
Bahrain 1.5 20 2 8 10.1% 40.0%
New Zealand 4.3 128 -10 50 7.8% 39.1%
Malaysia 27.0 165 26 58 15.7% 35.2%
S.Korea 49.0 982 4 343 0.4% 34.9%
Japan 127.0 4,346 201 1,492 4.6% 34.3%
Turkey 71.0 663 -36 226 5.5% 34.1%
Indonesia 235.0 433 10 137 2.4% 31.6%
Bolivia 9.1 13 1 4 10.2% 30.8%
Chile 16.6 164 8 49 5.0% 29.9%
Russia 142.0 1,290 69 385 5.3% 29.8%
Peru 28.2 102 2 28 2.0% 27.5%
Kuwait 3.4 130 51 34 39.6% 26.2%
Thailand 63.0 245 9 59 3.5% 24.1%
South Africa 48.0 282 -16 65 5.8% 23.0%
Rep. of. China  (Taiwan) 23.0 383 24 86 6.2% 22.5%
U.A.Emirates 4.5 192 36 42 18.8% 21.9%
Ecuador 14.0 99 -1 18 0.6% 18.2%
Brazil 184.0 1,313 10 230 0.8% 17.5%
India 1132.0 1.089 -19 165 1.7% 15.2%
Paraguay 6.0 27 0 4 0.3% 14.8%
Venezuela 28.0 335 17 45 5.1% 13.4%
Saudi Arabia 27.0 446 89 53 20.0% 11.9%
Singapore 4.7 228 41 26 18.2% 11.4%
P. R. of China 1320.0 3,250 372 363 11.4% 11.2%
Libya 6.0 75 12 5 15.6% 6.7%
Iran 71.0 294 19 14 6.5% 4.8%
Nigeria 148.0 191 15 6 7.6% 3.1%
Algeria 33.3 131 32 1 24.0% 0.8%
Luxembourg 0.5 50 11 0 22.6% 0.0%


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