| Country | Public debt, % of GDP · 2025 ↓ | Risk of debt distress (IMF) | External debt | Owed to China | Owed to bond holders | Debt service, % of exports |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zambia | 100.6 % | High 2026 | 28.6 bn$ 2025 | 24.4 % | 16.1 % | 5.4 % 2024 |
| Malawi | 96.6 % | In debt distress 2025 | 4.0 bn$ 2025 | 6.6 % | 0.0 % | 7.8 % 2024 |
| Mozambique | 90.3 % | High 2026 | 74.4 bn$ 2025 | 14.4 % | 9.7 % | 9.7 % 2024 |
| South Africa | 78.4 % | Not assessed | 206.3 bn$ 2025 | 1.7 % | 80.5 % | 6.5 % 2024 |
| Namibia | 67.5 % | Not assessed | — | — | — | — |
| Angola | 52.9 % | Not assessed | 63.7 bn$ 2025 | 4.1 % | 20.7 % | 26.2 % 2024 |
| Lesotho | 49.4 % | Moderate 2025 | 2.0 bn$ 2025 | 16.2 % | 0.0 % | 4.8 % 2024 |
| Eswatini | 44.8 % | Not assessed | 1.6 bn$ 2025 | 17.7 % | 6.0 % | 3.5 % 2024 |
| Zimbabwe | 38.0 % | In debt distress 2025 | 16.0 bn$ 2025 | 32.5 % | 0.0 % | 1.1 % 2024 |
| Botswana | 34.0 % | Not assessed | 2.5 bn$ 2025 | 0.0 % | 0.0 % | 4.3 % 2024 |
Public debt: IMF, World Economic Outlook, gross debt of the general government, % of GDP
Risk of debt distress: IMF, list of debt sustainability analyses of low-income countries, as of 2026-03-31 · only countries eligible for the IMF's concessional lending are assessed · imf.org
External debt, creditors and service: World Bank, International Debt Statistics and World Development Indicators (updated 2026-11-05), CC BY 4.0 · shares of the public and publicly guaranteed external debt: Syli Atlas calculation · the World Bank does not cover high-income countries such as Seychelles
In short
In 2025, the median public debt of African countries is 53.2 % of GDP (IMF); 16 of 52 countries are above 70 %. China holds a median 6.4 % of their public external debt (World Bank).