Southeast Asia’s Highest Debt: Which Country Leads? | Global Debt Stats & Rankings 2025

Singapore carries the highest public debt in Southeast Asia, exceeding $1 trillion USD, according to data released by the Vietnamese news outlet VietnamNet, referencing the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) World Economic Outlook for late 2025.

The report places Singapore 15th globally in terms of total public debt. Globally, total government debt is estimated to reach $110.9 trillion USD in 2025, with the United States, China, Japan, the United Kingdom, and France collectively holding more than two-thirds of that total.

The United States currently leads the world in total debt, with $38.3 trillion USD, representing approximately one-third of global public debt. China follows with $18.7 trillion USD, and Japan with $9.8 trillion USD. The IMF projects U.S. Debt to increase by $2.9 trillion USD by 2025, while China’s is forecast to grow by $2.2 trillion USD. However, China’s debt has increased at a faster percentage rate, 13.6% compared to 8.4% in the United States.

Several countries now have debt levels exceeding their Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Japan and Sudan both have debt exceeding twice their economic output, with debt-to-GDP ratios of 230% and 222% respectively. Singapore’s debt is equivalent to 176% of its GDP, while the United States’ debt represents 125% of its GDP.

Vietnam’s public debt currently stands at approximately 4.3 trillion VND (roughly $165.3 billion USD), representing 34.7% of the country’s GDP, which is projected to reach around $476.3 billion USD in 2024. This represents an increase of approximately 490 trillion VND compared to 2023. The debt-to-GDP ratio is expected to reach 35-36% by the end of 2025.

Recent data from the Japanese Ministry of Finance indicates that Japan has relinquished its position as the world’s largest creditor for the first time in 34 years. Japan’s net foreign assets reached 533.05 trillion yen (approximately $3.7 trillion USD) at the end of 2024, a roughly 13% increase from 2023. However, Germany now holds the largest net foreign assets, totaling 569.7 trillion yen. China remains in third place with net assets of 516.3 trillion yen.

The increase in Germany’s foreign assets is attributed to a substantial trade surplus, projected to reach 248.7 billion euros ($283.2 billion USD) in 2024.