What does the Third World debt represent compared to other debts?
According to the World Bank, in 1999 the debt of the Third World countries was equal to $2,060 billion (6 % of the world debt) without counting the former Eastern bloc ($465 billion). These should be placed against the population figures. The debt of the 41 HIPC countries is $200 billion. The debt of sub-Saharan Africa is $235 billion. The public debt of Belgium rises to $250 billion. Sub-Saharan Africa with 600 million inhabitants is sixty times more than Belgium which has 10 million. The total debt on a world level is $37,000 billion. The national debt of the United States is $5,000 billion, the debt of households in the United States is $6,000 billion (figures for 1999). The national debt of Japan is $2,000 billion. 9. What do the measurements of relief already carried out since 1996 represent? The reductions obtained by the HIPCs to date represent at maximum a quarter of one hundredth of the Third World debt (0.25 %) or, in terms of the debt of the HIPCs, 5% of their 1996 debt. The
