[copious.abundance]

. . . Ireland!

As measured by external debt as a percentage of GDP:

http://www.cnbc.com/id/30308959?slide=16

. . . and with a hefty $549,819 in external debt per capita.


US is 15th with a much more modest $44,358 per capita.

[Consensi]

. . . Ireland!
As measured by external debt as a percentage of GDP.....

Gross external debt: $2.311 trillion (Q4 2008)
2008 GDP: $285 billion

Incredible, if I read this correctly they will never be able to service this debt.

Only a few years ago (maybe two years) I was reading about how the Irish economy
was booming and attracting companies, and high skilled workers, from the US and
the UK. What the hell happened in such a short period of time ?

The top three debtors are Western European countries.
Then there is Iceland....

What a stinkin mess.

[turner]

. . . Ireland!
As measured by external debt as a percentage of GDP.....

Gross external debt: $2.311 trillion (Q4 2008)
2008 GDP: $285 billion

Incredible, if I read this correctly they will never be able to service this debt.

Only a few years ago (maybe two years) I was reading about how the Irish economy
was booming and attracting companies, and high skilled workers, from the US and
the UK. What the hell happened in such a short period of time ?

The top three debtors are Western European countries.
Then there is Iceland....

What a stinkin mess.

Irelands property boom has been out of control for a number of years and as expected a limit has been reached. I've just been there and was staggered to see the huge number of new and large houses compared to 11 years ago.I'm not sure where all the money has come from to support the building boom. Locals tell me that it has been crazy and everything has gone up ridiculously in price, not only real estate but also general living expenses. To give you some examples from my trip: car hire U$360 for 4 days, Starbucks coffee $5.20, McDonalds meal $8.50. I couldn't believe the cost particularly as so many people I talked to had no work or not enough work.
Foreign companies are now starting to relocate some of their operations to Eastern Europe where it is cheaper, further exacerbating existing employment problems.

[Keith_McClary]

"Gross external debt" includes private debts. So, if some people in your country have large debts to foreigners, your country has a large "Gross external debt".

But, it's not your debt or your government's debt, so it's not your problem.

Unless you are American - your government has guaranteed these private debts (AIG bailout) so you and your descendants will be paying, paying ...

[Bytesmiths]

And yet, the Irish are among the happiest in the world, surpassed only by Nigeria and Venezuela. (The US is #7, just below the Phillippines.)

They also use the most fertilizer and drink the most beer and find school the most boring, but also drink the least coffee. Coincidence? You decide!

[Daniel_Plainview]

United Kingdom

External debt (as % of GDP): 336%
External debt per capita: $153,616

[Tyler_JC]

I'd like to see how they define foreign debt.

If I personally owe a billion dollars to a German bank, does that mean the US has a foreign debt liability of a billion dollars?

Moreover, Hong Kong number 4? Huh?

I think they are ignoring net liabilities and focusing only on gross amounts.

If I owe a million to you and you owe a million to me, we have no net external debt but the gross amount appears to be large.

I wouldn't give much credibility to this report.

[Sixstrings]

I don't know about the usefulness of this list. For starters, does GDP take into account assets held in other nations? As in, the British own quite a bit in the US. I'm guessing this doesn't count towards their gross *domestic* product, but BP is still British Petroleum after all.