RSS
Eurostat: Romania had the largest government deficit in the EU in 2019, 4.3% of GDP
In 2019, the government deficit of both the euro area (EA19) and the EU27 increased in relative terms compared with 2018, while the government debt declined in both zones. In the euro area the government deficit to GDP ratio rose from 0.5% in 2018 to 0.6% in 2019, and in the EU27 from 0.4% to 0.6%.
In the euro area the government debt to GDP ratio decreased from 85.8% at the end of 2018 to 84.1% at the end of 2019, and in the EU27 from 79.6% to 77.8%. In this release, Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, is providing government deficit and debt data for the years 2016-2019 based on figures reported by EU Member States in the first notification in 2020, for the application of the excessive deficit procedure (EDP).
This notification is based on the ESA 2010 system of national accounts. This release also includes data on government expenditure and revenue.
In 2019, Denmark (+3.7%), Luxembourg (+2.2%), Bulgaria (+2.1%), Cyprus and the Netherlands (both +1.7%), Greece (+1.5%), Germany (+1.4%), Austria (+0.7%), Malta, Slovenia and Sweden (all +0.5%), Ireland and Croatia (both +0.4%), Czechia and Lithuania (both +0.3%), and Portugal (+0.2%) registered a government surplus.
Two Member States had deficits equal to or higher than 3% of GDP: France (-3.0%) and Romania (-4.3%). At the end of 2019, the lowest ratios of government debt to GDP were recorded in Estonia (8.4%), Bulgaria (20.4%), Luxembourg (22.1%), Czechia (30.8%) and Denmark (33.2%). Eleven Member States had government debt ratios higher than 60% of GDP, with the highest registered in Greece (176.6%), Italy (134.8%), Portugal (117.7%), Belgium (98.6%), France (98.1%), Spain and Cyprus (both 95.5%).
In 2019, government expenditure in the euro area was equivalent to 47.1% of GDP and government revenue to 46.5%. The figures for the EU27 were 46.7% and 46.2% respectively. In both zones the government expenditure ratio increased between 2018 and 2019, while the government revenue ratio remained stable.