World Map Shows Countries That Owe China Money

Once the world’s largest financier, China has in recent years become its top debt collector as grace periods expire on billions of dollars in loans issued to the global south.

This year, a record $22 billion in debt to China is due from 75 of the world’s poorest countries, according to a recent report from the Australian think tank the Lowy Institute.

A Newsweek map based on World Bank data charts the external debts owed to China by more than 100 countries. Newsweek has contacted the Chinese Foreign Ministry for comment by email.

Why It Matters

China’s lending spree peaked in the 2010s, generating more than $1 trillion in obligations tied to infrastructure projects under President Xi Jinping’s flagship Belt and Road Initiative.

U.S. officials have blasted the initiative as “debt trap diplomacy”—leveraging loans to gain control of critical infrastructure. China rejects this, saying its overseas lending operates on mutually beneficial terms.

But as repayments mount, the burden will strain developing economies and divert resources from priorities such as health care, education and poverty reduction, the Lowy Institute wrote.

What To Know

China accounted for about 5 percent, or $441.8 billion, of the $8.8 trillion in public external debt owed by all low- and middle-income countries, according to data from the World Bank’s 2024 report on International Debt Statistics.

The figures cover the external debt stocks of public and publicly guaranteed debt to China, alongside countries’ total external debt stocks as of the end of 2023.

In absolute terms, Pakistan tops the list of Chinese debtors, owing $22.6 billion—almost a sixth of its $130.8 billion external debt. Argentina follows with $21.2 billion of its $266.2 billion external debt, and Angola owes Beijing $17.9 billion of its $57 billion external debt.

When measured by the share of total debt owed to China, Djibouti is the most exposed, with more than 40 percent of its $3.4 billion external debt tied to Chinese lenders. In Laos, Chinese loans make up 30 percent of its $20.3 billion debt burden. Zambia follows with about 27 percent of its $29 billion debt owed to China.

What People Are Saying

Riley Duke, a research fellow for the Lowy Institute, wrote in his May report: “China is grappling with a dilemma of its own making: it faces growing diplomatic pressure to restructure unsustainable debt, and mounting domestic pressure to recover outstanding debts, particularly from its quasi-commercial institutions.”

Mao Ning, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, told reporters on May 27: “I can tell you that China’s cooperation on investment and financing with developing countries follows international practice, market principles, and the principle of debt sustainability.”

What Happens Next

China is under growing international pressure to work with debt-strapped nations on restructuring their obligations. This could give the West a chance to regain some influence lost to China in the developing world, Duke wrote.

Yet Washington may struggle to seize the moment, as the Trump administration scales back international engagement and U.S. soft power—pulling out of the World Health Organization, slashing the United States Agency for International Development’s budget and planning deep cuts to the State Department.