The public debt of 12 of the European Union’s 27 member states did not meet the requirement of remaining below 60% of gross domestic product in 2024.
Data released by the European Commission (April 2025) are presented in the Netherlands Court of Audit’s regular update of its EU webpage.
They show that Greece, Italy, France, Belgium and Spain had public debts in excess of 100% of their gross domestic product in 2024. At 43.3%, the Netherlands was comfortably below the 60% debt requirement.
National debt of EU countries in 2024 as a percentage of GDP
Year 2024 Greece 153,6 Italy 135,3 France 113 Belgium 104,7 Spain 101,8 Portugal 94,9 Finland 82,1 Austria 81,8 Hungary 73,5 Slovenia 67 Cyprus 65 Germany 62,5 Slovakia 59,3 Croatia 57,6 Poland 55,3 Romania 54,8 Malta 47,4 Latvia 46,8 Czechia 43,6 Netherlands 43,3 Ireland 40,9 Lithuania 38,2 Sweden 33,5 Denmark 31,1 Luxembourg 26,3 Bulgaria 24,1 Estonia 23,6
No assurance on agricultural funds
The half-yearly update also reveals that the Netherlands contributed significantly less to the EU in 2024 than it had budgeted. The reduction was due chiefly to the underspend on the EU budget last year. Furthermore, the Central Government Audit Service did not provide assurance on payments for the agricultural funds on account of excessive risks in the audit approach, as disclosed in the annual report of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Nature and in the Central Government Annual Financial Report.