Eurostat published its figures regarding provision of deficit and debt data for 2012. These figures show that the government deficit of both the euro area and the EU decreased in absolute terms compared with 2011, while the government debt rose in both zones. The data published also show that seventeen member states had deficits higher than 3% of GDP. Spain (-10.6%), Greece (-10.0%), Ireland (-7.6%), Portugal (-6.4%), Cyprus and the United Kingdom (both -6.3%) had the highest deficit in 2012.

According to Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, the government deficit of both the euro area and the EU decreased in absolute terms compared with 2011, while the government debt rose in both zones in 2012. In general terms, in the euro area the government deficit to GDP ratio decreased from 4.2% in 2011 to 3.7% in 2012, and in the EU from 4.4% to 4.0%. In the euro area the government debt to GDP ratio increased from 87.3% at the end of 2011 to 90.6% at the end of 2012, and in the EU from 82.5% to 85.3%. In 2011 compared with 2010, the government deficit of both the euro area and the EU decreased.

The figures released show that in 2012 the lowest government deficits in percentage of GDP were recorded in Estonia (-0.3%), Sweden (-0.5%), Bulgaria and Luxembourg (both -0.8%) and Latvia (-1.2%), while Germany (+0.2%) registered a government surplus. On the other hand, seventeen member states had deficits higher than 3% of GDP: Spain (-10.6%), Greece (-10.0%), Ireland (-7.6%), Portugal (-6.4%), Cyprus and the United Kingdom (both -6.3%), France (-4.8%), the Czech Republic (-4.4%), Slovakia (-4.3%), the Netherlands (-4.1%), Denmark and Slovenia (both -4.0%), Belgium and Poland (both -3.9%), Malta (-3.3%), Lithuania (-3.2%) and Italy (-3.0%).

With regard to the government debt to GDP, at the end of 2012, the lowest ratios of government debt to GDP were recorded in Estonia (10.1%), Bulgaria (18.5%), Luxembourg (20.8%), Romania (37.8%), Sweden (38.2%), Latvia and Lithuania (both 40.7%), while fourteen member states had government debt ratios higher than 60% of GDP: Greece (156.9%), Italy (127.0%), Portugal (123.6%), Ireland (117.6%), Belgium (99.6%), France (90.2%), the United Kingdom (90.0%), Cyprus (85.8%), Spain (84.2%), Germany (81.9%), Hungary (79.2%), Austria (73.4%), Malta (72.1%) and the Netherlands (71.2%).