Household Debt in Asia

Household Debt is a topic I have looked at many times in Australia and the United Kingdom, but now I wonder how it compares in the Asian countries.

Malaysian Household Debt is in the news at the moment, and this has raised my curiosity about the region.

The governor of Malaysia’s Central Bank, “Bank Negara Malaysia“, had said that lending measures have been tightened after the Household Debt to GDP ratio hit 80 per cent last year.

How does this figure compare to the rest of the world?
Here is a list showing Household and Total Debt in Q2, 2011 for the world’s 10 largest economies, with a few of the figures for Household Debt in Asia in the central column.

Household Debt to GDP Ratio

45% Italy
48% France
60% Germany
67% Japan
81% Korea
82% Spain
87% United States
91% Canada
98% UK
105% Australia

Asia Household Debt to GDP Ratio

57% Indonesia
80% Malaysia
81% South Korea

Total Debt to GDP Ratio

276% Canada
277% Australia
278% Germany
279% United States
314% South Korea
314% Italy
346% France
363% Spain
507% United Kingdom
512% Japan

80% Household Debt does not look too bad, when compared against the others above, coming in at about 5th place against the top 10 world economies.
However, a report from the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) stated that Malaysian household debt has now risen past 65 per cent of GDP.

Now for the other types of Debt to GDP ratio, for Malaysia and other countries in Asia, in 2011.

Public debt as % of GDP

24.80% Indonesia
30.00% Hong Kong
32.00% Bangladesh
33.70% South Korea
38.50% China
39.20% Taiwan
47.80% Thailand
48.00% Laos
48.20% Vietnam
50.40% Pakistan
50.60% Philippines
51.90% India
55.80% Malaysia
79.00% Sri Lanka
106.50% Singapore
218.90% Japan

Government debt as % of GDP

22.16% China
23.90% Indonesia
28.33% Nepal
28.49% Cambodia
33.09% Hong Kong
33.46% South Korea
41.49% Philippines
41.73% Taiwan
43.48% Myanmar
44.17% Thailand
50.42% Vietnam
53.05% Malaysia
54.14% Laos
62.37% Pakistan
67.59% India
86.53% Maldives
106.19% Singapore
236.56% Japan

External debt as % of GDP

9.5% China
17.8% India
26.3% Taiwan
26.6% Indonesia
26.9% Philippines
28.1% Malaysia
30.2% Thailand
35.7% South Korea
42.2% Sri Lanka
45.0% Japan
334.0% Hong Kong
420.6% Singapore

Non Asian Comparison

64.0% Canada
95.0% Australia
106.0% United States
108.2% Ireland
390.0% United Kingdom

Sources: CIA and IMF and Philippines Central Bank, Wikipedia

Definitions:

Debt to GDP Ratio = Gross Domestic Product divided by the amount of Debt.
Household Debt = The total amount of money that all adults in a household owe to all financial institutions, including mortgages.
Public Debt = The cumulative total of all government borrowings less repayments that are denominated in a country’s home currency.
External Debt = The foreign currency liabilities of both the private and public sector and must be financed out of foreign exchange earnings.
National debt = Public sector debt.
Gross Debt = Gross debt refers to all debt outstanding
Net Debt = Net debt is the difference between gross debt and gross credits/assets

More Figures to be added

50.9% 2011 Philippines Government Debt to GDP Ratio
51.4% 2012 Philippines Government Debt to GDP Ratio

Sri Lanka
47.9% 2012 Sri Lanka External Debt to GDP Ratio
42.2% 2011 Sri Lanka External Debt to GDP Ratio
79.1% 2012 Sri Lanka Total debt to GDP ratio (Public Debt?)

US Debt in 2011
102.9% Gross US debt to GDP Ratio is 2011
67.8% Net US debt to GDP Ratio in 2011

UK National debt in 2012
82.5% UK Gross National Debt as % of GDP in 2012
67.0% UK Net National Debt as % of GDP in 2012

659.1 - 811,251

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