Country Name, Gross External Debt, GDP, percentage of external debt vs. GDP 1.Ireland â 2.386tr, 188.4b, 1267% 2.Switzerland â 1.338tr, 316.7b, 422.7% 3.UK â 9.087tr, 2.226tr, 408.3% 4.Netherlands â 2.452tr, 672b, 365% 5.Belgium â 1.246tr, 389b, 320.2% 6.Denmark â 607.38b, 203.6b, 298.3% 7.Austria â 832.4b, 329.5b, 252.6% 8.France â 5.021tr, 2.128tr, 236% 9.Portugal - 507b, 236.5b, 214.4% 10.Hong Kong â 631.13b, 306.6b, 205.8% 11.Norway â 548.1b, 275.4b, 199% 12.Sweden â 669.1b, 344.3b, 194.3% 13.Finland â 364.85b, 193.5b, 188.5% 14.Germany â 5.208tr, 2.918tr, 178.5% 15.Spain â 2.409tr, 1.403tr, 171.7% 16.Greece â 552.8b, 343b, 161.1% 17.Italy â 2.31tr, 1.823tr, 126.7% 18.Australia â 891.26b, 800.2b, 111.3% 19.Hungary â 207.92b, 196.6b, 105.7% 20.US â 13.454tr, 14.26tr, 94.3%
That's because these numbers are a load of bollox... I think I saw something similar once, produced by CNBC, in a blatant attempt at good ol' USA cheerleading (note the conspicuous position of US in the list).
If you think about it a little bit, you will understand exactly why Switzerland is on this list. Moreover, you will also hopefully understand why this list conveys no useful information whatsoever. It certainly doesn't offer any insight into which economies are healthy and which aren't.
China and India are not on the list. Also there are no Muslim countries such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and others on the list. Only western countries appear on debt list. Why?.
MartinG - I don't know if you missed it or didn't have time to address it, but I brought up a point countering yours re: UK having a printing press whereas Portugal does not, in a prior thread relating to Portugal. I'll ask again: What is more important in your view, a nation's printing press (if they have one) or their gold reserves per capita? I think you know my opinion. Curious as to yours.