Look at the ranking of the most indebted countries in the world that I discovered by analyzing economic data. Hong Kong leads by a wide margin with a total debt of 380% of GDP — it's truly absurd. The interesting thing is that most of this debt comes from corporations, which reach 227% of GDP. Their government maintains a much more controlled debt at 67%, and households are around 86%. This special administrative region of China with 7.5 million inhabitants is highly developed but carries an enormous corporate burden.

Next is Japan in second place with 372% of total GDP. The situation there is reversed — the government’s public debt is close to 200%, while corporate debt is more moderate at 113%. The US appears in seventh place with 264%, divided between government debt at 123% and corporate debt at 73%. When you look at these numbers, it’s clear that the most indebted countries in the world have very different debt structures from each other.

What stands out when analyzing this global debt ranking is how each economy distributes its debt in a unique way. Hong Kong emphasizes corporate debt, Japan on government debt, and the US on both. It shows that there is no single pattern among the most indebted — each has its own challenge.