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Government debt by instrument coverage

The magnitude of government debt and debt-to-GDP ratios varies depending on which measure of debt is used. To promote international comparability, the IMF, the OECD and the World Bank have agreed on a set of standard debt measures, which are defined in the Public Sector Debt Statistics Guide for Compilers and Users and the Government Finance Statistics Manual 2014. Government gross debt is shown in four categories: D1 to D4. D1 is the narrowest measure, comprising only two financial instruments: debt securities and loans. D4 (‘total gross debt’) is the broadest measure and includes debt securities, loans, Special Drawing Rights, currency and deposits, other accounts payable and insurance, pensions and standardised guarantees. <br> <br> The D1 to D3 measures are comparable between OECD countries. D4 is the preferred measure of debt in the international accounting standards (System of National Accounts or SNA) but cross-country comparability is more difficult for D4 because countries have different approaches to recording unfunded pension liabilities for government employees. <br> <br> For more information, please see the document: <br> <a href="https://webfs-sdd.oecd.org/files/.Stat/NASEC20/FABS_Measuring_Government_Debt_D1-D4.pdf">Measuring Government Debt: D1-D4</a>

oecd-sdmx:DSD_PSD_D1D4@DF_PSD_D1D4

Government debt by instrument coverage

OECD.SDD.NAD

Publisher
OECD.SDD.NAD
Source
OECD Data Explorer (oecd-sdmx)
Status
Active
Formats
SDMX-JSON
Licence
OECD Terms and Conditions (Data) · open
Standard
SDMX 2.1
Dataset id
oecd-sdmx:DSD_PSD_D1D4@DF_PSD_D1D4
Last verified
2026-08-16