Ranking 22 economies from the largest net external creditor to the largest net external debtor -- and why the US, at -71% of GDP, isn't treated the way that number would suggest anywhere else
Ranking 22 economies by net international investment position (NIIP) as a share of GDP at end-2025 reveals a spread of over 675 percentage points, from Hong Kong's approximately +540% to Greece's -136.8%. The United States, at -71.1% of GDP (using the platform's canonical FRED-sourced series, itself reflecting a major June 2026 BEA revision from an original -89.5% estimate), sits as one of the largest net debtors in the sample in relative terms, yet is not treated as fragile in practice because its liabilities are overwhelmingly dollar-denominated. The ranking splits into genuinely different stories rather than one spectrum of virtue and vice: financial-centre creditors (Hong Kong, Singapore) differ structurally from surplus-accumulation creditors (Japan, Germany, China), and currency-union debtors (Spain, Portugal, Greece) face a different adjustment path than a debtor borrowing in its own floating, reserve currency (the United States).
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