Official data
South Africa: public debt by year, 2000–2025
General government gross debt, % of GDP
Latest year, 2025: 78.4%
Opens a new analysis with this question: Compare public debt as a share of GDP since 2000 across South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, and Egypt.
Method
Official annual series (2000–2025), read directly from the source without adjustments and plotted as published.
- Read. Reads series GGXWDG_NGDP directly as published by the source.
- Period. Keeps one value per year, 2000 to 2025.
- Chart. Draws the series as a line and marks the latest year.
- The most recent years can be IMF estimates.
- Source
- International Monetary Fund (IMF)
- Dataset
- World Economic Outlook (October 2026)
- Series code
- GGXWDG_NGDP
Read from the Belo Lake on November 8, 2026.
Data
| Year | Value |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 78.4 |
| 2024 | 76 |
| 2023 | 73.2 |
| 2022 | 70.7 |
| 2021 | 68.8 |
| 2020 | 68.9 |
| 2019 | 56.1 |
| 2018 | 51.5 |
| 2017 | 48.6 |
| 2016 | 47.1 |
| 2015 | 45.2 |
| 2014 | 43.3 |
| 2013 | 40.4 |
| 2012 | 37.4 |
| 2011 | 34.7 |
| 2010 | 31.2 |
| 2009 | 27 |
| 2008 | 24 |
| 2007 | 24.3 |
| 2006 | 28 |
| 2005 | 29.6 |
| 2004 | 30.7 |
| 2003 | 31.5 |
| 2002 | 31.8 |
| 2001 | 38 |
| 2000 | 37.9 |