Public debt: Public debt rises to over two trillion euros

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Bremen is great - at least when it comes to debt.

The Hanseatic city has further expanded its debt lead.

If you take all the public liabilities of the federal, state and local governments together, every Bremen citizen had to shoulder 74,612 euros at the end of 2020.

Far behind are Hamburg with a per capita debt of 36,042 euros and Saarland with 34,761 euros.

The load in Bremen is four times higher than in the bottom-end Saxony.

Here it is only 18,723 euros per head.

The residents of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg also have to cope with a significantly lower debt burden, here it is 19,309 euros and 22,072 euros per capita.

This is shown by WELT calculations based on current figures from the Federal Statistical Office.

The average per capita debt nationwide was 26,128 euros, a year earlier it was 22,857 euros.

Source: WORLD infographic

Overall, public debt grew by 273.1 billion euros compared to the previous year - that is an increase of 14.4 percent.

The reason is clear: "The increase is mainly due to the raising of financial resources to cope with the Corona crisis," said the statistics authority from Wiesbaden.

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At the end of the year, the total debt of the federal, state, municipal and social security funds to banks and private companies was 2171.8 billion euros - that is, more than two trillion euros for the first time.

If you look at the liabilities of the federal, state and local governments separately, there are major differences.

The mountain of debt of the federal government increased the most, by 215 billion euros to 1,403.4 billion euros.

That is 18.1 percent more than a year earlier.

This was 16,909 euros for each of the country's 83 million inhabitants.

The indebtedness of the federal states grew year-on-year by 57 billion euros or around ten percent and amounted to 635.8 billion euros - and thus not even half of the federal debt.

The municipalities and municipal associations contributed 132.5 billion euros to the total debt.

Federal government plans record new borrowing in 2021

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Compared to the federal and state levels, however, the increase of 1.1 billion euros or 0.9 percent was small.

At the end of 2020, social security had a debt level of just 52 million euros - that was even five million less than at the end of 2019.

Regardless of the level at which the public debt arises, it is difficult for any individual citizen to grasp.

The per capita figures are more plastic.

It is interesting to distinguish between the burden that comes from the federal government and that from the federal states.

By far the highest at the state level was the percentage increase in Saxony with an increase of 344 percent.

But the state debt in Saxony contributed just 1241 euros to the per capita debt of 18,723 euros.

Therefore, the increase in the final bill was hardly significant.

The federal government is responsible for 16,909 euros per capita, another 573 euros came from the municipalities.

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The opposite example is Bremen again: the debt of the city-state increased by a comparatively low 31 percent in the year of the pandemic.

But Bremen - state and municipalities are one here - contributed 57,703 euros and thus the majority of the total per capita debt of its residents of 74,612 euros.

The increase in the country's liabilities is much more significant.

Overall, public debt is expected to rise further this year.

The federal government alone is planning a record new debt of 240 billion euros for 2021, which will further increase the per capita debt nationwide.

However, major shifts between the federal states are no longer to be expected.

Their share in the debt per inhabitant is likely to decline.

After all, tax estimators expect that after the pandemic, the tax revenues of the federal states and municipalities will return to the pre-crisis level much faster than the federal government's revenues.

Söder - "Abolishing the debt brake would send the wrong signal"

Chancellery Minister Helge Braun causes an uproar in the Union.

The confidante of Chancellor Merkel questioned the debt brake in the federal budget for at least a certain time and justified it with Corona and the consequences.

Source: WORLD