Official Eurostat data for the first quarter of 2026 indicates a significant decline in Greece’s public debt, both as a percentage of GDP and in nominal terms.
According to the European statistical office, Greece’s debt-to-GDP ratio stood at 143.5%, representing a year-on-year decrease of 9.4 percentage points compared with the first quarter of 2025.
This was the largest reduction among the 27 member-states of the European Union over the period.
Compared with the peak of 212.9% recorded in the first quarter of 2021 during the Covid-19 pandemic, the debt-to-GDP ratio has declined by a cumulative 69.4 percentage points, representing one of the fastest fiscal adjustments among OECD economies.
The improvement in the ratio was accompanied by a decline in the nominal stock of public debt. At the end of the first quarter, public debt amounted to €360 billion, compared with the €366 billion recorded in March 2025. Despite this substantial improvement, Greece continues to record the highest public debt-to-GDP ratio in the European Union.
