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Public Debt around the World: A New Dataset of Central Government Debt: 1970-2005

By Department of Research and Chief Economist (VPS/RES/RES)

Overview

Public Debt around the World: A New Dataset of Central Government Debt: 1970-2005 assembles internationally comparable series on the level of central government debt. It was created to address a long-standing problem in public-finance research: commonly used datasets on public debt offer incomplete country and period coverage, which limits cross-country and long-run analysis. This dataset responds with broader and more complete coverage.

The accompanying paper presents complete series of central government debt for 89 countries over the 1991-2005 period, and for seven additional countries over the 1993-2005 period. The result is a wide cross-section of economies — spanning Latin America and the Caribbean alongside countries from every other region — that supports comparative work on sovereign indebtedness.

Why central government debt matters

The level and composition of public debt are central to macroeconomic and fiscal analysis: they shape a government's vulnerability to shocks, its borrowing costs, and its room for counter-cyclical policy. A recurring concern in the Inter-American Development Bank's (IDB) research has been the quality and comparability of debt statistics, since gaps and inconsistencies across sources make it hard to compare countries or track debt dynamics over time. By providing more complete series, this dataset helps researchers and policymakers analyze debt levels on a consistent basis.

What the data contain

The dataset is distributed as a knowledge product of the IDB and includes the public-debt data in spreadsheet and machine-readable formats (XLS, CSV and Stata .dta), a data dictionary describing the variables, a README, and supporting documentation. Together these resources let users move directly from the raw series to comparative analysis.

Intended uses

The data support cross-country and historical analysis of public debt, macroeconomic and fiscal research, teaching, and policy work on debt sustainability. Access is open under the dataset's Creative Commons license; review the license terms and cite the dataset when reusing it (see the citation below).

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Metadata & use

Identifier https://doi.org/10.60966/0p2k3j0u
License Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial–NoDerivs 3.0 IGO
Related Knowledge Product
Citation

Jaimovich, Dany, et al. (2015). Public Debt around the World: A New Dataset of Central Government Debt: 1970-2005. IDB Open Data. https://doi.org/10.60966/0p2k3j0u
Published date 2015-03-04
Modified date 2026-07-15
Tags/Keywords Public Debt
Language
  1. English
Temporal coverage 1970-2005
Country
Albania
Algeria
Argentina
Australia
Austria
Bahamas
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Barbados
Belarus
Belgium
Belize
Benin
Bhutan
Bolivia
Botswana
Brazil
Bulgaria
Burundi
Cape Verde
Cameroon
Canada
Chad
Chile
China
Colombia
Costa Rica
Croatia
Cyprus
Czechia
Denmark
Djibouti
Congo - Kinshasa
Ecuador
Egypt
El Salvador
Eritrea
Estonia
Eswatini
Ethiopia
Fiji
Finland
France
Gabon
Georgia
Germany
Ghana
Greece
Grenada
Guatemala
Guinea
Guyana
Haiti
Honduras
Hungary
Iceland
India
Indonesia
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Côte d’Ivoire
Jamaica
Japan
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kenya
Kyrgyzstan
Latvia
Lebanon
Lesotho
Libya
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Malawi
Malaysia
Maldives
Malta
Mauritania
Mauritius
Mexico
Moldova
Mongolia
Morocco
Namibia
Nepal
New Zealand
Nicaragua
Nigeria
Norway
Oman
Pakistan
Panama
Papua New Guinea
Paraguay
Peru
Philippines
Portugal
Qatar
Russia
Rwanda
St. Lucia
Samoa
Saudi Arabia
Senegal
Seychelles
Sierra Leone
Singapore
Slovakia
Slovenia
Solomon Islands
South Africa
South Korea
Spain
Sri Lanka
St. Vincent & Grenadines
Sudan
Suriname
Sweden
Switzerland
Tajikistan
Thailand
Gambia
Netherlands
Tonga
Trinidad & Tobago
Tunisia
Türkiye
Uganda
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom
United States
Uruguay
Vanuatu
Venezuela
Yemen
Zambia
Zimbabwe
Region Latin America and the Caribbean
Publisher
Inter-American Development Bank
Author
Jaimovich, Dany
Panizza, Ugo
Data collection type Administrative Data
Statistical type Panel Data
Data structure Structured Data
Data notes

What does this dataset measure?

It provides internationally comparable series on the level of central government debt, designed to offer more complete country and period coverage than commonly used public-debt datasets.

How many countries and what period are covered?

The dataset presents complete central government debt series for 89 countries over the 1991-2005 period and for seven additional countries over the 1993-2005 period.

Why was a new dataset needed?

Commonly used datasets on public debt provide incomplete country and period coverage, which limits cross-country and long-run analysis. This dataset was built to provide more complete and comparable series.

What is central government debt?

Central government debt refers to the outstanding liabilities of the central government. Its level and composition are key indicators for fiscal and macroeconomic analysis, including debt sustainability.

Who produced this dataset?

It was authored by Dany Jaimovich and Ugo Panizza and published by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) as an open knowledge product.

What file formats are available?

The dataset includes the public-debt data in XLS, CSV and Stata .dta, along with a data dictionary, a README file, and supporting documentation.

Is there a publication associated with the data?

Yes. The dataset accompanies an IDB paper of the same title, available at https://publications.iadb.org/en/public-debt-around-world-new-dataset-central-government-debt-0

What are typical uses of this data?

Common uses include cross-country and historical analysis of public debt, macroeconomic and fiscal research, teaching, and policy work on debt sustainability.

Under what license can I use the data?

The dataset is released under the Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial–NoDerivs 3.0 IGO license. Review the license terms at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo/ before reusing the data.

How do I cite this dataset?

Cite it as: Jaimovich, Dany, et al. (2015). Public Debt around the World: A New Dataset of Central Government Debt: 1970-2005. IDB Open Data. https://doi.org/10.60966/0p2k3j0u

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