France’s public debt reaches 119% of GDP, its highest since 1946, as Germany’s stays near 64% and Paris faces a difficult savings push

France’s public debt reached 119% of gross domestic product at the end of the second quarter of 2026, a level last seen in 1946, while Germany’s ratio was 64.4% in the first quarter, according to the latest available figures. The widening gap leaves Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu trying to secure support for €54 billion in proposed savings as he prepares France’s 2027 budget.

France’s public deficit was 5.1% of GDP in 2025. The government has projected that debt will rise to 121.7% of GDP in 2027, and passage of Lecornu’s savings plan is uncertain in a fragmented parliament. France has not recorded a public-sector surplus since 1974.

The two countries entered the euro era with debt ratios near 60% of GDP, but their paths diverged after 2010. Germany’s constitutional debt brake, alongside economic growth and primary surpluses, contributed to reducing its debt ratio from about 81% in 2010 to below 60% by 2019.

Germany has since eased its borrowing rules to allow greater defense spending, giving it more fiscal room than France, whose debt burden is now substantially higher.

In March 2025, Germany amended its constitution to exempt certain defense and security spending above 1% of GDP from the debt brake and approved a €500 billion fund for infrastructure investment.