China: Short-term debt (% of total reserves)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2024, China's short-term debt (% of total reserves) rose 0.46 percentage points on 2023 (from 37.32% to 37.79%).

Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1994 to 2023), the average change was −0.62 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 7.06 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.2 standard deviations above that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.

On record, the biggest yearly rise was 33.01 percentage points in 1992 and the biggest yearly fall was 25.67 percentage points in 1994. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

From 2015 to 2024 the straight-line trend is upward, about 1.45 percentage points a year. A straight line explains 62% of the movement over 10 observed years.

Worked out from the yearly values above. How the checks work: standard deviation, z-scores and straight-line trends.

How it compares

In 2024, China had the 37th highest value of the 96 economies reporting that year. Higher is not always better: for some indicators the lowest value is the one to aim for. See the full ranking.

Closest to China in the 2024 ranking

• Angola — 33rd of 96: 40.78%
• Moldova — 34th of 96: 40.75%
• Sierra Leone — 35th of 96: 40.14%
• Paraguay — 37th of 96: 37.2%
• Ghana — 38th of 96: 36.81%
• Bosnia and Herzegovina — 39th of 96: 32.63%

What this measures

Short-term debt includes all debt having an original maturity of one year or less and interest in arrears on long-term debt. Total reserves includes gold.

Limitations: The DRS encourages debtor countries to voluntarily provide information on their short-term external obligations. By its nature, short-term external debt is difficult to monitor: loan-by-loan registration is normally impractical, and monitoring systems typically rely on information requested periodically by the central bank from the banking sector. The World Bank regards the debtor country as the authoritative source of information on its short-term debt. Where such information is not available from the debtor country, data are derived from BIS data on international bank lending based on time remaining to original maturity.

Regional and income-group figures are computed by the World Bank as a weighted average.

All 43 values

Short-term debt (% of total reserves) in nearby economies

• Cambodia — 19.09% (2024)
• Fiji — 65.85% (2024)
• Indonesia — 41.82% (2024)
• Lao PDR — 49.57% (2024)
• Mongolia — 42.63% (2024)
• Myanmar — 0.48% (2023)
• Papua New Guinea — 3.27% (2024)
• Philippines — 19.72% (2024)
• Samoa — 13.5% (2024)
• Solomon Islands — 4.26% (2024)
• Thailand

More economic policy & debt data for China

• Exports of goods and services (current US$) — US$4.11 trillion (2025)
• Exports of goods and services (current LCU) — 29.54 trillion (2025)
• Exports of goods and services (% of GDP) — 21.07% (2025)
• Imports of goods and services (current US$) — US$3.29 trillion (2025)
• Imports of goods and services (current LCU) — 23.67 trillion (2025)
• Imports of goods and services (% of GDP) — 16.89% (2025)
• External balance on goods and services (current US$) — US$816.19 billion (2025)
• External balance on goods and services (current LCU) — 5.87 trillion (2025)
• External balance on goods and services (% of GDP) — 4.19% (2025)

Reading data like this

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Questions people ask

What is China's short-term debt (% of total reserves)?

37.79% in 2024, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1982?

It is up 24.38 percentage points from 13.41% in 1982. The highest value was 55.93% in 1993 and the lowest 7.62% in 2000.

How does China rank?

37th highest of 96 economies with data for 2024.

Is the latest change in short-term debt (% of total reserves) unusual for China?

In 2024, China's short-term debt (% of total reserves) rose 0.46 percentage points on 2023 (from 37.32% to 37.79%). Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1994 to 2023), the average change was −0.62 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 7.06 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.2 standard deviations above that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator DT.DOD.DSTC.IR.ZS, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: World Development Indicators, World Bank (WB); International Monetary Fund (IMF), type: Balance of Payments Statistics Yearbook and data files; World Bank (WB), type: GDP estimates; Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), type: GDP estimates Figures are fetched from the World Bank API and refreshed monthly; see the series on data.worldbank.org. The full definition and method are in the World Bank's metadata glossary. Comparisons use the same World Bank release.

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