Japan vs Korea: Government debt by instrument coverage — Debt securities and loans
Government debt by instrument coverage — Debt securities and loans over time
- Japan
- Korea
How they compare
Japan currently reports 195.55 Percentage of GDP against 45.57 Percentage of GDP in Korea, a difference of 149.98 Percentage of GDP.
That makes Japan's figure about 4.3 times Korea's.
Across all 14 years both countries report, Japan has been ahead every year.
Japan ranks 1st and Korea ranks 2nd of 25 countries.
Japan has averaged higher in every one of the 2 decades both report.
Head to head by decade
| Decade | Japan | Korea | Difference | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010s | 190.86 Percentage of GDP | 33.35 Percentage of GDP | 157.51 Percentage of GDP | Japan |
| 2020s | 211.93 Percentage of GDP | 44.68 Percentage of GDP | 167.25 Percentage of GDP | Japan |
Averages of every year both report within each decade.
Frequently asked questions
- Which has higher government debt by instrument coverage — debt securities and loans, Japan or Korea?
- Japan, at 195.55 Percentage of GDP against 45.57 Percentage of GDP in Korea as of 2026.
- What is the difference in government debt by instrument coverage — debt securities and loans between Japan and Korea?
- 149.98 Percentage of GDP, with Japan ahead.
- How many years of comparable data are there for Japan and Korea?
- 14 years are reported by both, from 2011 to 2024.
- How do Japan and Korea rank globally for government debt by instrument coverage — debt securities and loans?
- Japan ranks 1st and Korea ranks 2nd of 25 countries.
- Where does this data come from?
- Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, published as Government debt by instrument coverage — Debt securities and loans. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.
Individual pages
About this data
The magnitude of government debt and debt-to-GDP ratios varies depending on which measure of debt is used. To promote international comparability, the IMF, the OECD and the World Bank have agreed on a set of standard debt measures, which are defined in the Public Sector Debt Statistics Guide for Compilers and Users and the Government Finance Statistics Manual 2014. Government gross debt is shown in four categories: D1 to D4. D1 is the narrowest measure, comprising only two financial instruments: debt securities and loans. D4 (‘total gross debt’) is the broadest measure and includes debt securities, loans, Special Drawing Rights, currency and deposits, other accounts payable and insurance, pensions and standardised guarantees. The D1 to D3 measures are comparable between OECD countries. D4 is the preferred measure of debt in the international accounting standards (System of National Accounts or SNA) but cross-country comparability is more difficult for D4 because countries have different approaches to recording unfunded pension liabilities for government employees. For more information, please see the document: Measuring Government Debt: D1-D4