German public debt rises to €2.84 trillion in 2025, debt ratio at 63.5 percent

German public debt increased by €144 billion in 2025, reaching a total of €2.84 trillion.

This rise was primarily driven by federal debt, which, including its off-budget entities, grew by €107 billion.

State governments saw their debt increase by €19 billion, while municipalities added €25 billion to their liabilities.

Social security debt more than doubled from €3 billion to €7 billion, though these figures largely represent intra-governmental loans to the federal government and are therefore not included in the overall public debt total.

The €144 billion debt increase exceeded the general government Maastricht deficit of €119 billion reported by the Federal Statistical Office, primarily because a portion of the debt was used to build up financial assets, which do not count as a deficit.

The debt-to-GDP ratio, which measures the debt level against nominal gross domestic product (GDP), rose by 1.3 percentage points to 63.5 percent.

While the increase in nominal GDP alone would have lowered the debt ratio by 2.0 percentage points, the actual debt growth increased the ratio by a calculated 3.3 percentage points.

Furthermore, EU member states incur joint debt at the European level.

The Bundesbank estimates that Germany's share of this EU debt amounts to approximately €118 billion, or 2.6 percent of German GDP, reflecting its financing contributions to the EU budget.