Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Ireland and Debt

Some interesting facts:

Ireland’s external debt is $448,032 per person – more than twice as high as that of any other EU country. The next highest is the UK at $189,855 per person. Italy is $124,049 per person. Germany is $54,604 per person. Greece is $3,953 per person.

External Debt is defined as the total public and private debt owed to nonresidents repayable in foreign currency, goods, or services. Basically, it's the amount of money we owe foreigners.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_external_debt

As pointed out in today’s Irish Times, Ireland’s total external debt is greater than that of Japan, Spain or Italy. Ireland’s total external debt is a sixth of the total external debt of the USA. Ireland’s population is currently about 4.5 million, compared to 300 million in the US and 120 million in Japan.

Ireland’s total external debt is 960.86% of GDP or national income – the highest of any country in the world (except Monaco), and by far the highest in the EU. The next highest is the notoriously indebted UK, where external debt is 376.82% of GDP.

One is tempted to ask: should we Irish have been a little less daring and a bit more careful with money?

2 comments:

  1. Dear Brian,

    It appears Ireland is indeed fucked with a capital F. Thank you for posting the evidence. The comparison with US/Japan is startling.

    On an unrelated note, I would be fascinated to hear your views on this recent article from the Guardian - http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/jan/31/facebook-sex-divorce

    Is mise le mouse,

    Andreas O'Dealouinaigh

    ReplyDelete
  2. http://davidgalbraith.org/uncategorized/very-scary-chart/1592/

    ReplyDelete