Top 10 countries with the highest government debt, including India

The second position goes to China, which has government debt of nearly $18.7 trillion. Even though its total debt is still a fraction of the United States’, China had the world’s fastest annual growth rate in 2025, at 13.6%, with about $2.2 trillion added there last year alone. The rise was driven by continued state-led investment, local government funding needs, and economic stabilisation efforts.