German public debt rose by €144 billion in 2025, reaching €2.84 trillion, according to the Bundesbank. The increase breaks down as follows: the federal government and its external budgets added €107 billion, while state governments added €19 billion and municipalities €25 billion. Social‑security insurers saw their liabilities double, rising from €3 billion to €7 billion. These social‑security debts mainly consist of internal borrowings by the federal government and are therefore not included in the overall national debt figure.
The debt‑to‑nominal‑GDP ratio climbed by 1.3 percentage points to 63.5 %. Although the growth of nominal GDP would have lowered the ratio by 2.0 points, the rise in debt pushed it up by 3.3 points.
The €144 billion jump exceeds the Maastricht‑deficit figure of €119 billion published by the Federal Statistical Office. Part of the debt was used to build financial assets, which are treated as equity rather than deficit, explaining the difference.
European Union member states borrow both at the national level and jointly at the EU level. Community debt is largely serviced through the EU budget, with each country’s involvement weighted by its share of that budget. Germany currently contributes about one quarter of the EU budget. The Bundesbank estimates that Germany can attribute roughly €118 billion, or 2.6 % of its GDP, to this EU‑level debt share.