Data for 1981

External Debt Stocks (% of GNI), 1981

Name: External Debt Stocks (% of GNI), 1981
Creator: World Bank Group
License: https://data.worldbank.org/summary-terms-of-use

1981, as World Bank Group’s 2026 release gives it · stored as published, never rewritten

External Debt Stocks (% of GNI), 1981 covers 85 countries. Guyana is highest, at 180.54; Bhutan is lowest, at 0.30. The middle country reads 36.93.

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External Debt Stocks (% of GNI) · Data for 1981

HighestGuyana

180.54

LowestBhutan

0.30

Shaded by value in five groups of equal size, darkest at the lowest end.

85countries
1measure
1981the year it describes
85distinct values15 decimals, as published
Sep 6, 2026read from the publisher
CC BY 4.0licence

01Position · derived

The table

Every country and every column of External Debt Stocks (% of GNI), 1981, as published. World Bank Group ranks nobody on this measure; the position is derived here by ordering the published values. “=” marks a shared position.

Search this table

Showing 25 of 85 countries · select a heading to sort

External Debt Stocks (% of GNI), 1981: every country, as published by World Bank Group.
derived
1	Guyana`GUY`South America	180.54
2	Myanmar`MMR`South-eastern Asia	178.68
3	Somalia`SOM`Eastern Africa	135.10
4	Nicaragua`NIC`Central America	111.66
5	Egypt`EGY`Northern Africa	107.85
6	Côte d’Ivoire`CIV`Western Africa	102.91
7	Maldives`MDV`Southern Asia	99.99
8	Zambia`ZMB`Eastern Africa	92.67
9	Mauritania`MRT`Western Africa	91.08
10	Liberia`LBR`Western Africa	85.83
11	Jamaica`JAM`Caribbean	82.93
12	Gambia`GMB`Western Africa	81.85
13	Republic of the Congo`COG`Middle Africa	79.39
14	Togo`TGO`Western Africa	75.00
15	Morocco`MAR`Northern Africa	61.47
16	Bolivia`BOL`South America	61.25
17	Sudan`SDN`Northern Africa	59.80
18	Sierra Leone`SLE`Western Africa	55.54
19	Mali`MLI`Western Africa	55.23
20	Uganda`UGA`Eastern Africa	53.38
21	Philippines`PHL`South-eastern Asia	52.00
22	Sri Lanka`LKA`Southern Asia	51.05
23	Samoa`WSM`Polynesia	50.72
24	Papua New Guinea`PNG`Melanesia	49.13
25	Jordan`JOR`Western Asia	48.91
26	Niger`NER`Western Africa	48.76
27	Kenya`KEN`Eastern Africa	48.62
28	Argentina`ARG`South America	46.60
29	Honduras`HND`Central America	46.51
30	Malawi`MWI`Eastern Africa	45.61
31	Mauritius`MUS`Eastern Africa	45.38
32	Cameroon`CMR`Middle Africa	44.49
33	Tunisia`TUN`Northern Africa	44.44
34	Tanzania`TZA`Eastern Africa	43.83
35	Algeria`DZA`Northern Africa	43.38
36	Benin`BEN`Western Africa	42.18
37	Peru`PER`South America	42.17
38	Senegal`SEN`Western Africa	41.91
39	DR Congo`COD`Middle Africa	41.76
40	São Tomé and Príncipe`STP`Middle Africa	40.15
41	Pakistan`PAK`Southern Asia	38.01
42	Guinea-Bissau`GNB`Western Africa	37.31
43	Ecuador`ECU`South America	36.93
44	Ghana`GHA`Western Africa	36.56
45	El Salvador`SLV`Central America	36.55
46	Madagascar`MDG`Eastern Africa	34.54
47	Haiti`HTI`Caribbean	34.10
48	Central African Republic`CAF`Middle Africa	33.43
49	Dominican Republic`DOM`Caribbean	32.64
50	Brazil`BRA`South America	32.42
51	Gabon`GAB`Middle Africa	32.13
52	Thailand`THA`South-eastern Asia	31.64
53	Mexico`MEX`Central America	30.91
54	Grenada`GRD`Caribbean	30.71
55	Chad`TCD`Middle Africa	29.67
56	Cabo Verde`CPV`Western Africa	28.13
57	Comoros`COM`Eastern Africa	27.90
58	Indonesia`IDN`South-eastern Asia	27.60
59	Türkiye`TUR`Western Asia	27.58
60	Cambodia`KHM`South-eastern Asia	25.74
61	Colombia`COL`South America	24.86
62	Ethiopia`ETH`Eastern Africa	24.56
63	Belize`BLZ`Central America	23.27
64	Fiji`FJI`Melanesia	22.57
65	Paraguay`PRY`South America	21.37
66	Bangladesh`BGD`Southern Asia	20.44
67	Burkina Faso`BFA`Western Africa	18.58
68	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines`VCT`Caribbean	18.56
69	Burundi`BDI`Eastern Africa	18.49
70	Zimbabwe`ZWE`Eastern Africa	17.56
71	Dominica`DMA`Caribbean	17.47
72	Guatemala`GTM`Central America	16.06
73	Guinea`GIN`Western Africa	15.48
74	Botswana`BWA`Southern Africa	14.36
75	Rwanda`RWA`Eastern Africa	13.88
76	Solomon Islands`SLB`Melanesia	12.33
77	Nepal`NPL`Southern Asia	12.18
78	Lesotho`LSO`Southern Africa	11.65
79	India`IND`Southern Asia	11.62
80	Saint Lucia`LCA`Caribbean	8.47
81	Bulgaria`BGR`Eastern Europe	3.93
82	Iran`IRN`Southern Asia	3.91
83	Vanuatu`VUT`Melanesia	3.09
84	China`CHN`Eastern Asia	2.96
85	Bhutan`BTN`Southern Asia	0.30

02In 1981

At either end

The 5 countries at each end of the headline.

Highest

1Guyana180.54
2Myanmar178.68
3Somalia135.10
4Nicaragua111.66
5Egypt107.85

Lowest

85Bhutan0.30
84China2.96
83Vanuatu3.09
82Iran3.91
81Bulgaria3.93

A higher value is the worse result. The middle country reads 36.93. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

03Caveats

Read before you use

What this edition’s numbers are and are not, worked out from the file itself.

How values are stored

One year of the 2026 release
Every year in this series comes from World Bank Group’s 2026 release, recalculated on one method. It can differ from what was first published for 1981.
The position is ours
World Bank Group publishes values only; the order is this site’s.
Nothing missing
Every one of the 85 countries has every column.

04The files

Download and cite

The table as a file, digit for digit, what this site changed, and a citation for this edition.

Licence in full

.csv
For a spreadsheet or code
85 rows · 3.8 KB · UTF-8, opens in Excel
Opens with 11 lines of source notes; the table starts on row 13.
Download external-debt-1981-nations-inquiry.csv
↗
The publisher’s original
World Bank Group’s own file, on its own site.
DT.DOD.DECT.GN.ZS

What this site changed: Reshaped into one row per country: regional and income-group totals are left out, only the columns listed are kept, each row gets its ISO 3166 code, and some country names are brought to one spelling. No value is recalculated, rescaled or rounded.

Licence: CC BY 4.0 · what it allows, in plain words

Cite this edition

World Bank Group (1981). External Debt Stocks (% of GNI), 1981 [data set], describing 1981. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/external-debt/1981

0544 held

Other years

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External Debt Stocks (% of GNI), 1982
85 countries
All of them
External Debt Stocks (% of GNI): every year
44 held, with the data dictionary, coverage and licence.
How it has moved, charted by country

06Questions