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

  1. 45% Italy
  2. 48% France
  3. 60% Germany
  4. 67% Japan
  5. 81% Korea
  6. 82% Spain
  7. 87% United States
  8. 91% Canada
  9. 98% UK
  10. 105% Australia
Asia Household Debt to GDP Ratio

  1. 57% Indonesia
  2. 80% Malaysia
  3. 81% South Korea
Total Debt to GDP Ratio

  1. 276% Canada
  2. 277% Australia
  3. 278% Germany
  4. 279% United States
  5. 314% South Korea
  6. 314% Italy
  7. 346% France
  8. 363% Spain
  9. 507% United Kingdom
  10. 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

  1. 24.80%  Indonesia
  2. 30.00%  Hong Kong
  3. 32.00%  Bangladesh
  4. 33.70%  South Korea
  5. 38.50%  China
  6. 39.20%  Taiwan
  7. 47.80%  Thailand
  8. 48.00%  Laos
  9. 48.20%  Vietnam
  10. 50.40%  Pakistan
  11. 50.60%  Philippines
  12. 51.90%  India
  13. 55.80%  Malaysia
  14. 79.00%  Sri Lanka
  15. 106.50%  Singapore
  16. 218.90%  Japan
Government debt as % of GDP

  1. 22.16%  China
  2. 23.90%  Indonesia
  3. 28.33%  Nepal
  4. 28.49%  Cambodia
  5. 33.09%  Hong Kong
  6. 33.46%  South Korea
  7. 41.49%  Philippines
  8. 41.73%  Taiwan
  9. 43.48%  Myanmar
  10. 44.17%  Thailand
  11. 50.42%  Vietnam
  12. 53.05%  Malaysia
  13. 54.14%  Laos
  14. 62.37%  Pakistan
  15. 67.59%  India
  16. 86.53%  Maldives
  17. 106.19%  Singapore
  18. 236.56%  Japan
External debt as % of GDP

  1. 9.5% China
  2. 17.8% India
  3. 26.3% Taiwan
  4. 26.6% Indonesia
  5. 26.9% Philippines
  6. 28.1% Malaysia
  7. 30.2% Thailand
  8. 35.7% South Korea
  9. 42.2% Sri Lanka
  10. 45.0% Japan
  11. 334.0% Hong Kong
  12. 420.6% Singapore

Non Asian Comparison

  1. 64.0% Canada
  2. 95.0% Australia
  3. 106.0% United States
  4. 108.2% Ireland
  5. 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


673.1 - 873,008
Scroll down for Comments
0 0 votes
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x