China External Debt and Debt Sustainability
China's external debt on an Annual basis from 1985, alongside four international standard debt safety ratios: the debt-to-GDP ratio, the debt-to-export-earnings ratio, the debt-service-to-export-earnings ratio, and the short-term debt to Foreign exchange reserves ratio.
| Indicator | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999 | 1998 | 1997 | 1996 | 1995 | 1994 | 1993 | 1992 | 1991 | 1990 | 1989 | 1988 | 1987 | 1986 | 1985 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| External debt balance2 | 2,328.83 | 2,344.34 | 2,447.54 | 2,452.76 | 2,746.56 | 2,400.81 | 2,070.81 | 1,982.75 | 1,757.96 | 1,415.8 | 1,382.98 | 1,779.9 | 863.17 | 736.99 | 695 | 548.94 | 428.65 | 390.16 | 389.22 | 338.59 | 296.54 | 262.99 | 219.36 | 202.63 | 203.3 | 145.73 | 151.83 | 146.04 | 130.96 | 116.28 | 106.59 | 92.81 | 83.57 | 69.32 | 60.56 | 52.55 | 41.3 | 40 | 30.2 | 21.48 | 15.83 | |
| Medium and long-term debt | 1,011.95 | 1,034.8 | 1,084.69 | 1,114.8 | 1,300.33 | 1,084.44 | 851.97 | 693.6 | 612.72 | 549.76 | 495.57 | 481.7 | 186.54 | 196.06 | 194.1 | 173.24 | 169.39 | 163.88 | 153.53 | 139.36 | 124.9 | 124.29 | 116.59 | 115.55 | 119.53 | 132.65 | 136.65 | 128.7 | 112.82 | 102.17 | 94.68 | 82.39 | 70.02 | 58.47 | 50.26 | 45.78 | 37.03 | 32.69 | 24.48 | 16.71 | 9.41 | |
| Short-term debt | 1,316.88 | 1,309.55 | 1,362.84 | 1,337.97 | 1,446.23 | 1,316.37 | 1,218.84 | 1,289.15 | 1,145.24 | 866.04 | 887.41 | 1,298.2 | 676.63 | 540.93 | 500.9 | 375.7 | 259.26 | 226.28 | 235.68 | 199.23 | 171.64 | 138.71 | 102.77 | 87.08 | 83.77 | 13.08 | 15.18 | 17.34 | 18.14 | 14.11 | 11.91 | 10.42 | 13.55 | 10.85 | 10.3 | 6.77 | 4.27 | 7.31 | 5.72 | 4.77 | 6.42 | |
| Share of short-term debt | 56.5 | 55.9 | 55.7 | 54.5 | 52.7 | 54.8 | 58.9 | 65 | 65.1 | 61.2 | 64.2 | 72.9 | 78.4 | 73.4 | 72.1 | 68.4 | 60.5 | 58 | 60.6 | 58.8 | 57.9 | 52.7 | 46.8 | 43 | 41.2 | 9 | 10 | 11.9 | 13.9 | 12.1 | 11.2 | 11.2 | 16.2 | 15.7 | 17 | 12.9 | 10.3 | 18.3 | 18.9 | 22.2 | 40.6 | |
| Short-term debt to foreign exchange reserves | 39.2 | 40.9 | 42.1 | 42.8 | 44.5 | 40.9 | 39.2 | 42 | 36.5 | 28.8 | 26.6 | 33.8 | 17.7 | 16.3 | 15.7 | 13.2 | 10.8 | 11.6 | 15.4 | 18.7 | 21 | 22.7 | 25.5 | 30.4 | 39.5 | 7.9 | 9.8 | 12 | 13 | 13.4 | 16.2 | 20.2 | 63.9 | 55.8 | 47.4 | 61 | 76.9 | 216.8 | 195.7 | 230.2 | 242.8 | |
| Debt-to-GDP ratio (负债率) | 11.9 | 12.4 | 13.3 | 13.6 | 15.4 | 16.3 | 14.5 | 14.3 | 14.3 | 12.6 | 12.5 | 17 | 9 | 8.6 | 9.2 | 9 | 8.4 | 8.5 | 11 | 12.3 | 13 | 13.4 | 13.2 | 13.8 | 15.2 | 12 | 13.9 | 14.2 | 13.6 | 13.5 | 14.5 | 16.4 | 13.5 | 14.1 | 14.6 | 13.3 | 9.1 | 9.8 | 9.2 | 7.1 | 5.1 | |
| Debt-to-export ratio (债务率) | 56.3 | 60.6 | 69.8 | 66 | 77.3 | 87.9 | 78.3 | 74.8 | 72.6 | 64.4 | 58.6 | 69.9 | 35.6 | 32.8 | 33.3 | 29.2 | 32.2 | 24.7 | 29 | 31.9 | 35.4 | 40.2 | 45.2 | 55.5 | 67.9 | 52.1 | 68.7 | 70.4 | 63.2 | 67.7 | 72.4 | 78 | 96.5 | 87.9 | 91.9 | 91.6 | 86.4 | 87.1 | 77.1 | 72.1 | 56 | |
| Debt service ratio (偿债率) | 6.2 | 6.3 | 7.6 | 10.5 | 5.9 | 6.5 | 6.7 | 5.5 | 5.5 | 6.1 | 5 | 2.6 | 1.6 | 1.6 | 1.7 | 1.6 | 2.9 | 1.8 | 2 | 2.1 | 3.1 | 3.2 | 6.9 | 7.9 | 7.5 | 9.2 | 11.2 | 10.9 | 7.3 | 6 | 7.6 | 9.1 | 10.2 | 7.1 | 8.5 | 8.7 | 8.3 | 6.5 | 9 | 15.4 | 2.7 | |
| External debt inflows | 1,999.92 | 2,421.75 | 2,175.57 | 1,750.73 | 2,006.49 | 2,113.93 | 1,724.73 | 1,851.32 | 1,623.99 | 1,274.2 | 1,205.13 | 2,353.4 | 1,010.92 | 648.12 | 773.31 | 679.25 | 387.52 | 575.9 | 500.2 | 385.43 | 281.05 | 205.97 | 101.54 | 60.87 | 25.16 | 24.92 | 30.05 | 45.66 | 43.1 | 30.95 | 39.11 | 34.33 | 27.37 | 15.22 | 18.86 | 16.48 | 17.43 | 14.23 | 9.21 | 8.72 | 8.33 | |
| External debt repayments | 2,086.44 | 2,443.66 | 2,199.49 | 2,031 | 1,657.68 | 1,800.48 | 1,649.32 | 1,694.2 | 1,434.53 | 1,255.19 | 1,599.54 | 1,695.98 | 908.07 | 651.79 | 682.51 | 611.93 | 390.85 | 557.16 | 479.81 | 365.15 | 271.59 | 190.24 | 98.13 | 69.67 | 31.28 | 35.01 | 36.45 | 42.48 | 32.42 | 22.47 | 31.71 | 25.06 | 18.25 | 13.43 | 12.79 | 9.62 | 17.02 | 7.28 | 5.12 | 6.23 | 0.84 | |
| Net external borrowing | -86.52 | -21.91 | -23.91 | -280.28 | 348.81 | 313.45 | 75.41 | 157.12 | 189.46 | 19.01 | -394.41 | 657.42 | 102.85 | -3.67 | 90.8 | 67.32 | -3.33 | 18.74 | 20.39 | 20.28 | 9.46 | 15.73 | 3.41 | -8.8 | -6.12 | -10.09 | -6.4 | 3.18 | 10.68 | 8.48 | 7.4 | 9.27 | 9.12 | 1.79 | 6.07 | 6.86 | 0.41 | 6.95 | 4.09 | 2.49 | 7.49 | |
| Foreign exchange earnings | 4,136.8 | 3,869.6 | 3,507.8 | 3,715.8 | 3,555.2 | 2,732.4 | 2,643.4 | 2,651 | 2,422.9 | 2,197.9 | 2,360.2 | 2,545.1 | 2,425 | 2,248.3 | 2,086.6 | 1,876.8 | 1,332.9 | 1,581.7 | 1,342.1 | 1,061.7 | 836.8 | 655 | 485 | 365.4 | 299.4 | 279.6 | 221 | 207.4 | 207.2 | 171.7 | 147.2 | 118.9 | 86.6 | 78.8 | 65.9 | 57.4 | 47.8 | 45.9 | 39.2 | 29.8 | 28.3 | |
| Nominal GDP | 140,187.9 | 134,806.6 | 129,427.2 | 121,020.7 | 114,923.7 | 101,356.7 | 98,651.5 | 91,928.1 | 83,203.6 | 74,639.5 | 68,885.8 | 64,356.3 | 58,801.9 | 53,412.3 | 48,412.4 | 40,890.3 | 34,562.9 | 31,675.2 | 26,801.9 | 21,765.7 | 18,589.6 | 16,071.4 | 13,656.5 | 12,100.2 | 11,027 | 9,977.6 | 9,018.8 | 8,488.4 | 7,942.9 | 7,157.2 | 6,113 | 4,846 | 3,552.4 | 2,706.8 | 2,189.6 | 1,877.4 | 1,709 | 1,510.1 | 1,210.2 | 1,030.9 | 904 |
Latest reading
External debt balance stood at 2,328.83 USD billion in 2025. That is −0.7% from 2024. The series on this page is annual and runs from 1985 to 2025. Source: State Administration of Foreign Exchange of China (SAFE).
- Latest
- 2,328.83 USD billion
- 2025
- vs previous period
- −0.7%
- 2024
About this data
China's external debt on an Annual basis from 1985, alongside four international standard debt safety ratios: the debt-to-GDP ratio, the debt-to-export-earnings ratio, the debt-service-to-export-earnings ratio, and the short-term debt to Foreign exchange reserves ratio. These four ratios form the debt crisis early-warning system used by the IMF and the World Bank, with standard warning thresholds of 20%, 100%, 20%, and 100% respectively. China remains below all four thresholds, though its short-term debt-to-reserves ratio has risen from under 20% in the early 2000s to around 40% today—this is the primary narrative of this table. The table also includes inbound, outbound, and net debt flows: starting in 2025, net flows turned negative, meaning China is repaying more external debt than it is newly borrowing. The data has been standardized by the source across three statistical methodology revisions (1985, 2001, and 2015), ensuring a seamless 41-year time series, unlike the Quarterly table which begins only in late 2014. GDP is denominated in trillion yuan in accordance with the original source and is thus plotted on a separate vertical axis. Verification check: total debt equals short-term plus long-term debt, net flows equal inflows minus outflows, and figures appearing across two different source files must match. Source: State Administration of Foreign Exchange of China (SAFE).
