plate 389 · 2025 data

Bangladesh added a fifth of new debt owed to governments

Change in public debt owed to foreign governments, 119 low- and middle-income countries, 2015–2025: $366bn to $500bn.

Money rewired
  1. 1. Central banks now hold more gold than Treasuries or euros
  2. 2. China now pays the world mostly in yuan
  3. 3. Migrants now send home four times all foreign aid
  4. 4. Tether now holds more US Treasuries than the UAE
  5. 5. Developing countries' interest bill has nearly tripled since 2010
  6. 6. Poles edge past the Japanese in income per person
  7. 7. In dollars, Nigeria's economy has more than halved since 2014
  8. 8. Argentina's monthly inflation fell from 25.5% to 1.9%
  9. 9. Guyana now produces more per person than America
  10. 10. Ukraine received four times the aid of any other country
  11. 11. Singapore now draws twice as much foreign investment as China
  12. 12. 22 governments now owe more than a year's national output
  13. 13. Money sent home to Guatemala nearly quadrupled in ten years
  14. 14. In purchasing power, Russia's economy is now bigger than Japan's
  15. 15. Colombians abroad now send home more than foreigners invest
  16. 16. 72 countries now pay China more than it lends them
  17. 17. Pakistan rose to first place in Chinese energy finance
  18. 18. Money sent home now tops half of Tajikistan's economy
  19. 19. Pakistan passed India in tech's share of services exports
  20. 20. Mongolia leapt from 2% to 58% paying utilities by phone
  21. 21. Smaller currencies' share of world reserves has more than doubled
  22. 22. Phone savers now outnumber bank savers in 32 countries
  23. 23. Uzbekistan now receives more than twice Ukraine's remittances
  24. 24. Fewer countries owe China more than the World Bank
  25. 25. Poorer countries now owe Saudi Arabia more than America
  26. 26. Cambodia's bank lending grew from 8% to 121% of GDP
  27. 27. Egypt tripled its ATMs per adult in ten years
  28. 28. Bank branches are past their peak in most countries
  29. 29. Guinea rose from 17th to second for investment in Africa
  30. 30. Navoi doubled its share of Uzbekistan's economy in ten years
  31. 31. Turkmenistan has paid back almost all it owed China
  32. 32. Foreign debt payments now top foreign investment in 87 countries
  33. 33. Gulf governments now owe 13% of international government bonds
  34. 34. Sabah and Sarawak's share of Malaysia's economy keeps shrinking
  35. 35. Venezuela flipped from sending money abroad to receiving it
  36. 36. China holds most government-to-government loans in 36 countries
  37. 37. South Asia nearly doubled its share of the world economy
  38. 38. Colombia now earns more from visitors than Brazil
  39. 39. 26 countries produce less per person than in 2013
  40. 40. India and Mexico got only a third of new remittances
  41. 41. Fewer Mexicans live abroad, yet Mexico receives far more money
  42. 42. Kenyans abroad send home more than Kenya receives in aid
  43. 43. 84 cities make half of Brazil's economy, up from 49
  44. 44. British banks lost the lending lead in 22 poorer countries
  45. 45. Bangladesh added a fifth of new debt owed to governments
21%

Bangladesh's share of the $134 billion net rise in what 119 poorer countries owe foreign governments, 2015 to 2025: +$28 billion, more than any other borrower.

$4.4bn → $32.6bn

Bangladesh's debt to foreign governments grew 7.5-fold; it climbed from 24th to 4th among these borrowers, behind Pakistan, India and Egypt.

87%

Of Bangladesh's rise is owed to three governments: Japan (+$10.4 billion), Russia (+$8.7 billion) and China (+$5.6 billion).

Source: World Bank, International Debt Statistics: public debt owed to bilateral creditors (DT.DOD.BLAT.CD), 2025
the numbers & method

Claim types Fact

World Bank, International Debt Statistics (IDS): public and publicly guaranteed external debt owed to bilateral (government) creditors, stock outstanding at end of year, current US$ (DT.DOD.BLAT.CD), all bilateral creditors (counterpart World) and, for takeaway 3, creditors Japan (701), Russia (087) and China (730), as reported by each borrowing country; read from the World Bank IDS API via the progrss vault (vault rule GUIDELINES §4.11; source wb-more-databases passes value checks). 2025 is the latest reported year; IDS years from 2026 on are projections and are not used. Set: the 119 low- and middle-income countries with a value in both 2015 and 2025 (Equatorial Guinea, no 2015 value, left out; adding it changes no share by more than 0.1 point). Sum of the 119: $366.2 billion (2015), $499.8 billion (2025), net change +$133.7 billion; 81 countries owe more, 38 owe less (largest falls: China -$9.4 bn, Indonesia -$8.6 bn, Turkmenistan -$5.7 bn, Viet Nam -$4.6 bn). Bangladesh $4.36 bn to $32.64 bn (+$28.29 bn, 21.2% of the net rise; 15% of the sum of all increases, $186 bn); Pakistan +$22.38 bn; India +$17.82 bn; Ukraine +$11.26 bn; Uzbekistan +$8.22 bn; Egypt +$7.66 bn; the other 113 countries +$38.05 bn net. Parts add up; changes, shares and ranks are progrss calculations. Bangladesh by creditor, 2015 to 2025: Japan $2.28 bn to $12.72 bn, Russia $0.31 bn to $9.02 bn, China $0.92 bn to $6.51 bn. Japanese loans are mostly in yen, so their dollar value also moves with the exchange rate (the yen weakened over these years, which lowers Japan's dollar figure). Debt stocks show what is owed, not new lending in a year or why loans were made. Bilateral debt covers loans from governments and their official agencies; it excludes multilateral lenders (World Bank, IMF, regional banks), bondholders and commercial banks. Current dollars, not adjusted for inflation. Claim type: Fact (publisher values) with progrss sums.

license this plate

what connects to this

013 new routes Six of the world's ten busiest ports are in China 383 people on the move Sub-Saharan Africa added over a third of working-age growth 371 new routes China replaced America as Mexico's main electric car supplier