Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

Note:  The updates and revisions for the OECD Central Government Debt Database have been suspended. This dataset is no longer updated. For more info, please read http://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=GOV_DEBT   Statistical population The focus of this dataset is to provide comprehensive quantitative information on marketable and non-marketable central government debt instruments in all OECD member countries. The coverage of the data is limited to central government debt issuance and excludes therefore state and local government debt and social security funds.

General government debt-to-GDP ratio is the amount of a country's total gross government debt as a percentage of its GDP. It is an indicator of an economy's health and a key factor for the sustainability of government finance. "Debt" is commonly defined as a specific subset of liabilities identified according to the types of financial instruments included or excluded. Debt is thus obtained as the sum of the following liability categories (as applicable): currency and deposits; securities other than shares, except financial derivatives; loans; insurance technical reserves; and other accounts payable. Changes in government debt over time reflect the impact of government deficits. This indicator is measured as a percentage of GDP. All OECD countries compile their data according to the 2008 System of National Accounts (SNA).

The magnitude of government debt, and public sector debt likewise, depends on the coverage of instruments used and available data. To accommodate a fair international comparison of related indicators, the IMF, the OECD and the World Bank have agreed to define various debt measures depending on the coverage or non-coverage of instruments: D1 to D4. The D1-D4 presentation classifies gross government debt and public sector debt into four separate categories, as defined in the 2012 IMF Staff Discussion Note: “What Lies Beneath: The Statistical Definition of Public Sector Debt”. This coverage of instruments according to this classification ranges from a narrow definition including only debt securities and loans (D1) to a fully comprehensive definition covering all six debt instruments (D4), as defined in the Public Sector Debt Statistics Guide for User and Compilers, and the Government Finance Statistics Manual 2014. For more information, please see the document:

The Public Sector Debt database includes quarterly detailed information on all liabilities which constitute debt instruments, by initial and residual maturity, which are held by the government, and more broadly the public sector. The debt instruments are those instruments that require the payment of principal and interest or both at some point(s) in the future. All liabilities are considered debt, except liabilities in the form of equity and investment fund shares and, financial derivatives and employee stock options.