Romania’s public debt still below EU average but growing fast

Romania ranks as 16th of the European Union’s 27 members by the public indebtedness ratio, with a public debt of 55.8% of GDP at the end of Q1, still below the EU average (81.8%), according to Eurostat data.

However, Romania’s public debt is rising faster than average as the country ranks third in the EU when it comes to growth compared to the first quarter of last year - +4.1pp compared to 0.2pp EU average.

The highest ratios of government debt to GDP at the end of the first quarter of 2025 were recorded in Greece (152.5%), Italy (137.9%), France (114.1%), Belgium (106.8%) and Spain (103.5%), and the lowest were recorded in Bulgaria (23.9%), Estonia (24.1%), Luxembourg (26.1%) and Denmark (29.9%).

Compared with the first quarter of 2024, thirteen Member States registered an increase in their debt-to-GDP ratio at the end of the first quarter of 2025, twelve Member States registered a decrease, and the ratio remained stable in Slovenia and Estonia.

The largest increases in the ratio were recorded in Poland (+6.1 pp), Finland (+5.1 pp), Austria and Romania (both +4.1 pp), France (+3.6 pp), Italy (+2.9 pp), Slovakia (+2.6 pp), and Sweden (+2.0 pp). The largest decreases were observed in Greece (-9.3 pp), Cyprus (-8.2 pp), Ireland (-6.1 pp), Croatia (-3.6 pp), Denmark (-3.2 pp), Spain (-2.8 pp), and Portugal (-2.7 pp).

(Photo source: Alexandru Marinescu/Dreamstime.com)