The Eurostat's figures show that at the end of the first quarter of 2012, the government debt to GDP ratio in the euro area stood at 88.2%, compared with 87.3% at the end of the fourth quarter of 2011. In the EU the ratio increased from 82.5% to 83.4%. The highest ratios of government debt to GDP were recorded in Greece, Italy, Portugal and Ireland, and the lowest in Estonia, Bulgaria, and Luxembourg.

Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, published its data for the government debt in the euro area and in the EU at the end of the first quarter of 2012. The government debt to GDP ratio in the euro area stood at 88.2%, compared with 87.3% at the end of the fourth quarter of 2011. In the EU the ratio increased from 82.5% to 83.4%. Compared with the first quarter of 2011, the government debt to GDP ratio rose in both the euro area (from 86.2% to 88.2%) and the EU (from 80.4% to 83.4%). The euro area government debt down to 87.4% of GDP and the EU was up to 82.2% at the third quarter of 2011.

With regard to the data registered by Member State at the end of the first quarter 2012, the highest ratios of government debt to GDP at the end of the first quarter of 2012 were recorded in Greece (132.4%), Italy (123.3%), Portugal (111.7%) and Ireland (108.5%), and the lowest in Estonia (6.6%), Bulgaria (16.7%) and Luxembourg (20.9%).

Compared with the first quarter of 2011, twenty-three Member States registered an increase in their debt to GDP ratio at the end of the first quarter of 2012, and four a decrease. The highest increases in the ratio were recorded in Portugal (+17.2 pp), Cyprus (+11.0 pp) and Ireland (+8.2 pp), and the largest decreases in Greece (-20.0 pp) and Hungary (-4.1 pp).