Afghanistan vs United Arab Emirates: Government debt

Government debt in 2025: 7.6% of GDP in Afghanistan and 33.9% of GDP in United Arab Emirates, by IMF estimates. In 2025 the value was higher in United Arab Emirates, by 26.2 percentage points, or 4.44 times that in Afghanistan.

Watch it change on the map

% of GDP · IMF

AfghanistanUnited Arab EmiratesIMF projection (World Economic Outlook, October 2026)

What the numbers say

United Arab Emirates has been higher since 2009, when it overtook Afghanistan.
In 2025, Afghanistan ranked 146 and United Arab Emirates ranked 120 of 149 countries, counting from the highest.
The IMF projection (World Economic Outlook, October 2026) puts United Arab Emirates at 26.1% of GDP in 2031.

Every year

% of GDP · IMF

Year	Afghanistan	United Arab Emirates
2025	7.6	33.9
2024	8.9	33.2
2023	8.3	31.9
2022	10.6	31.5
2021	11.1	35.7
2020	7.3	30.1
2019	6.1	25.8
2018	7.4	20.7
2017	8	21.2
2016	8.4	18.6
2015	9.2	15.6
2014	8.7	13.5
2013	6.9	15.3
2012	6.8	20.2
2011	7.5	20.4
2010	7.7	18.3
2009	16.3	21.1
2008	19.1	8.9
2007	20.1	8.9
2006	23	5.1
2005	206.4	4.5
2004	245	4.1
2003	270.6	3.3
2002	346	3.4
2001	–	2.7
2000	–	3.1
1999	–	4.7

IMF projection (World Economic Outlook, October 2026) · 2026–2031

Year	Afghanistan	United Arab Emirates
2026	–	32.8
2027	–	30.8
2028	–	29
2029	–	27.4
2030	–	27
2031	–	26.1

Each country on its own

Good to know

What the government owes, as a share of the economy’s yearly output.
Source: IMF, World Economic Outlook, October 2026.
The dashed line is the IMF projection (World Economic Outlook, October 2026), a scenario rather than a forecast.
Ranks count the 149 countries with a value in 2025, highest first.

How the layers work, where their data comes from and what they can’t tell you: Countries through time