Indicator Glossary – Sovereign Debt Hub

National Accounts

GDP (Current USD) (US$): The total monetary value of all goods and services produced in a country in a given year, measured in current US dollars. GDP is the broadest measure of economic size and determines a country's capacity to service debt.
GDP (Constant 2015 USD) (US$ (2015)): GDP adjusted for inflation, measured in constant US dollars. Comparing constant-dollar GDP across years reveals whether the economy is genuinely growing or just reflecting price changes.
GDP per Capita (Current USD) (US$/person): Economic output per person, providing context for how much capacity a country has to manage its debt.
GDP per Capita (Constant 2015 USD) (US$/person (2015)): GDP per person adjusted for inflation. Tracks whether living standards are truly improving over time by removing the effect of rising prices.
GNI (Current USD) (US$): Gross National Income is the total income earned by a country's residents, including income from abroad. GNI captures remittances and overseas earnings that GDP misses, important for small island economies with large diasporas.
GDP Growth (Current USD) (%): How fast the economy is growing or shrinking. Positive growth means the country is producing more; negative growth signals a recession.
GDP Growth (Constant USD) (%): The rate of real economic growth, adjusted for inflation. Shows whether productive capacity is expanding or contracting, independent of price-level changes.

Debt Indicators

Public Debt to GDP (%): Total public debt as a percentage of economic output - the primary measure of whether a country's debt is sustainable.
Central Gov. Debt to GDP (%): Central government debt as a percentage of GDP. Narrower than total public debt, it isolates borrowing by the national government, excluding state enterprises and local authorities.
Interest on Public Debt (% GDP) (%): Interest payments on debt as a share of GDP, showing how much of the economy goes to servicing debt rather than funding public services.
External Debt Stock (US$): The total amount owed to foreign creditors in US dollars. High external debt means a country must earn foreign currency to repay, making it vulnerable to exchange rate shocks.
Public Debt Stock (US$): The absolute size of public debt in US dollars.
External Debt to GDP (%): External debt as a share of GDP. Measures how much of the economy's output would be needed to repay all foreign-held debt, a key indicator of vulnerability to external shocks.
Public Debt per Capita (US$/person): Public debt divided by population - how much debt each person effectively carries.
Public Debt per Child (US$/child): Total public debt divided by the population under 18. Illustrates the debt burden that today's children will inherit, framing fiscal decisions in terms of intergenerational equity.
Public Debt to Gov. Revenue (US$): Public debt as a multiple of annual government revenue. Shows how many years of total revenue it would take to repay the debt, measuring the government's practical ability to service its obligations.

Fiscal Indicators

Gov. Revenue to GDP (%): Government revenue as a share of GDP. Indicates how much of the economy the government collects in taxes and fees, with higher ratios suggesting more fiscal space to service debt and fund public services.
Overall Balance to GDP (%): Whether the government is spending more than it earns. A negative number means a deficit — the country is borrowing to cover the gap.

Social & Demographic

Inflation (%): The annual rate of increase in consumer prices. High inflation erodes purchasing power and can make debt cheaper to repay in real terms, but hurts citizens' ability to afford basic goods.
Population (persons): The total number of people living in the country. Essential context for interpreting per-capita indicators and understanding the scale of public service obligations.
Population (Children 0-19) (persons): The number of people under 18. Used alongside total population to calculate debt-per-child and understand the demographic profile of the country's future workforce.
Unemployment Rate (%): The percentage of the labor force that is actively seeking work but cannot find it. High unemployment signals economic distress and reduces the tax base available to service debt.

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG Index Score (Index): A composite score from 0 to 100 measuring a country's overall progress toward the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals. Higher scores indicate stronger development outcomes across health, education, environment, and governance.
SDG Index Rank (Index): A country's position in the global Sustainable Development Goals Index, ranking 166 nations on progress toward the 17 SDGs. A lower number means stronger overall development performance.
SDG Regional Rank (Index): A country's SDG Index position relative to other nations in its region. Provides regional context that the global rank alone cannot, since a country may rank well globally but still lag behind its Caribbean peers.