China: Debt at a Glance
Includes central + local government debt and LGFV bonds. Moody's downgraded outlook to Negative in 2023. Debt in trillions of yuan.
The total is ¥120 trillion, equal to 88% of a year's economic output. Shared equally, every resident's part would be about ¥85,227. The central bank is the People's Bank of China; the sovereign credit rating is A+ with a negative outlook.
How the clock works
We start from the latest official debt figure and add the current yearly deficit, spread evenly over every second of the year. Government statistics offices publish debt quarterly, so the clock is an estimate of where the total stands today.
Why government debt matters to you
Governments borrow by selling bonds. The interest they pay competes with other spending and taxes, and large borrowing can push up the yields that mortgage rates and savings rates follow. Debt is not a household debt, though: countries that borrow in their own currency and grow their economies can carry high debt for decades, as Japan shows. What matters most is the trend of debt relative to GDP and the cost of servicing it.
See how interest rates feed into your own borrowing on our live rates page, or work out your own debt with the debt payoff planner.