Developing countries' interest bill has nearly tripled since 2010
Net interest paid on public debt by developing countries, US$ billion, 2010–2025.
- 1. Mexico, not China, now sells America the most goods
- 2. China's ASEAN trade is now almost double its US trade
- 3. Central banks now hold more gold than Treasuries or euros
- 4. China now pays the world mostly in yuan
- 5. Migrants now send home four times all foreign aid
- 6. Tether now holds more US Treasuries than the UAE
- 7. Developing countries' interest bill has nearly tripled since 2010
- 8. America's duty-free parcels grew almost tenfold in nine years
- 9. Poles edge past the Japanese in income per person
- 10. In dollars, Nigeria's economy has more than halved since 2014
- 11. Argentina's monthly inflation fell from 25.5% to 1.9%
- 12. Guyana now produces more per person than America
- 13. Mexico's factories now outproduce Britain's and France's
- 14. Ukraine received four times the aid of any other country
- 15. The UAE sold more goods abroad than France in 2025
- 16. Singapore now draws twice as much foreign investment as China
- 17. The EU now buys more US gas than Russian gas
- 18. Malaysia again sells more to America than to China
- 19. 22 governments now owe more than a year's national output
- 20. Brazil mines 93% of the world's niobium
- 21. More Vietnamese now work in industry than on farms
- 22. Money sent home to Guatemala nearly quadrupled in ten years
- 23. In purchasing power, Russia's economy is now bigger than Japan's
- 24. Indonesia set to use more palm oil than it exports
- 25. Factories now make more of Cambodia's economy than China's
Net interest developing countries paid on public debt in 2025, up from $363bn in 2010.
Live in 51 developing countries that spend more on interest than on health or education.
People living under that squeeze than in 2010.
the numbers & method
| Year | Developing countries, net interest on public debt (bn) |
|---|---|
| 2010 | 363 |
| 2023 | 847 |
| 2024 | 921 |
| 2025 | 995 |
Claim types Fact
2023 ($847bn) from the 2024 edition and 2024 ($921bn) from the 2025 edition, both on unctad.org; the 2025 edition PDF labels the $921bn as 2023 in one place, its web page says 2024. 2010 ($363bn), 2025 ($995bn), 3.7bn people, 51 countries and '+1.2bn since 2010' are from the 2026 edition (released 7 Oct 2026), taken from press coverage quoting the UNCTAD overview (Ritz Herald, Criterion Post/Anadolu) because the UNCTAD page could not be fetched. Years between 2010 and 2023 are not published as text, so the line joins the published points only. Later editions may revise earlier years.
Published 29 Oct 2026
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