European budget cuts and debt burdens, at a glance

February 22, 2012 RSS Feed Print

By The Associated Press, Associated Press

Painful budget cuts and tax increases haven't eased government debt burdens in Greece, Portugal, Ireland and some other European countries. Still, the interest rates on some long-term European government bonds have fallen. That's lowered borrowing costs for those nations.

	GROSS GOVERNMENT DEBT AS % OF GDP	LONG-TERM BOND YIELD

	Ranking	2011 Q3	Chg in % from Year Earlier	Ranking	Jan '12	Chg in % from Year Earlier

1	Greece	159.1	Greece	20.3	1	Greece	25.9	Greece	14.2
2	Italy	119.6	Portugal	19.0	2	Portugal	13.9	Portugal	6.4
3	Portugal	110.1	Ireland	16.5	3	Ireland	7.7	Italy	0.9
4	Ireland	104.9	Spain	7.3	4	Italy	6.5	Spain	-0.5
5	Belgium	98.5	Germany	6.1	5	Poland	5.7	France	-0.6
6	U.S.	97.5	U.K.	6.0	6	Spain	5.4	Austria	-0.6
7	France	85.2	Denmark	4.8	7	Belgium	4.1	Belgium	-0.8
8	Germany	81.8	U.S.	4.6	8	Austria	3.3	Poland	-0.8
9	U.K.	80.0	France	3.2	9	France	3.2	Ireland	-1.0
10	Austria	71.6	Netherlands	1.4	10	Finland	2.3	Finland	-1.0
11	Spain	66.0	Poland	0.9	11	Netherlands	2.2	Netherlands	-1.1
12	Netherlands	64.5	Italy	0.5	12	Norway	2.0	Germany	-1.2
13	Poland	56.3	Finland	0.2	13	U.S.	1.9	Denmark	-1.3
14	Denmark	49.3	Austria	-0.3	14	Germany	1.8	U.S.	-1.4
15	Finland	47.2	Belgium	-0.3	15	Denmark	1.7	U.K.	-1.5
16	Norway	39.0	Sweden	-1.6	16	Sweden	1.7	Sweden	-1.5
17	Sweden	37.0	Norway	-4.5	17	U.K.	1.5	Norway	-1.5