As of the end of 2025, the public overall budget registered a debt of €2,662.2 billion in the non-public sector. According to definitive results released by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) on Wednesday, this translates to a per-capita debt of €31,887 in Germany, representing an increase of €1,821 or 6.1 percent compared to the end of 2024. Overall public debt increased by 6.0 percent (€151.4 billion) year-on-year by the close of 2025.
The public overall budget includes federal, state, and municipal governments, as well as local associations and social security, in addition to all extra-budgetary items. The non-public sector encompasses credit institutions and the broader domestic and foreign private sectors, such as private companies globally.
Destatis reported that the Federal Government carried a debt of €1,840.4 billion at the end of 2025. This represents a 6.2 percent increase compared to the end of 2024, or an increase of €107.7 billion. Based on population figures, the Federal Government’s debt stood at €22,043 per person (compared to €20,748 in 2024).
At the state level, the debt increased by 2.9 percent (€17.5 billion) to €624.9 billion by the end of 2025. The per-capita debt for the states was €7,484 in 2025 (up from €7,273 in 2024).
Sachsen recorded the sharpest percentage increase in per-capita debt year-over-year, rising by 17.1 percent to €1,736 (up from €1,482 in 2024). Nonetheless, Sachsen maintained the second-lowest per-capita debt after Bayern, which reported €1,448 (up from €1,353) in 2025. In Baden-Württemberg, per-capita debt climbed by 11.0 percent to €4,295 (from €3,869 in 2024), and Bremen saw a 9.9 percent rise to €37,418 (up from €34,037).
Only three states saw a decline in per-capita debt by the end of 2025. Rheinland-Pfalz experienced the largest percentage decrease at 2.1 percent, reaching €6,892 (down from €7,043 in 2024). Berlin and North Rhine-Westphalia also recorded declines of 1.0 percent, settling at €17,980 (down from €18,168) and €9,592 (down from €9,685), respectively. The reduction in Berlin’s debt figure is primarily attributed to the reporting unit “BEN Berlin Energie und Netzholding,” which ceased to be classified as a state sector entity starting in 2025, thus removing its debt from Berlin’s total.
Municipal and local association debt grew for the sixth consecutive year, rising by 15.4 percent (€26.2 billion) to €197.0 billion by the end of 2025. This equates to a municipal per-capita debt of €2,550 (up from €2,209 in 2024).
In municipal terms, Baden-Württemberg recorded the steepest percentage increase in per-capita debt, climbing by 28.6 percent to €1,648 (up from €1,282 in 2024). This was followed by municipalities in Niedersachsen, which saw a 20.9 percent increase to €2,963 (from €2,451 in 2024), and Sachsen, with a 19.4 percent rise to €1,065 (from €892 in 2024).
Only Thuringia managed to reduce its municipal per-capita debt by the end of 2025 compared to the end of 2024, declining by 3.0 percent to €841 (down from €867). Like the previous year, Thuringian municipalities held the second-lowest per-capita debt among local authorities, after the municipalities of Brandenburg at €688.
Finally, Destatis noted that social security contributed a very small amount to the debt, standing at €0.16 per person in 2025 (down from €0.19 in 2024). Overall, social security liabilities decreased by €2.5 million, from €16 million in 2024 to €13 million in 2025.
