France’s public debt has reached a new record high of €3,460.5 billion at the end of 2025, according to official figures released today by the national statistics institute INSEE.
The Maastricht Treaty-defined gross public debt stood at 115.6 per cent of GDP, up from 112.6 per cent at the end of 2024 and 109.5 per cent at the end of 2023, the INSEE disclosed.
It increased by €154.4 billion over the year, driven primarily by higher state borrowing through short and long-term securities.
At the same time, the public deficit narrowed slightly to 5.1 per cent of GDP, equivalent to €152.5 billion.
This represents an improvement from 5.8 per cent of GDP in 2024, although it remains well above the European Union’s three per cent reference threshold.
Revenues grew faster than spending, with compulsory levies rising to 43.6 per cent of GDP while expenditure growth slowed.
According to calculations by the Rexecode institute, the debt burden — the state’s spending on the payment of debt interest — is expected to reach €63 billion in 2026 and near €120 billion in 2030, an amount higher than the annual budget of the National Education system.
According to INSEE, the modest improvement in the public accounts was driven by stronger revenue growth of 3.9 per cent (plus €58 billion), supported by dynamic tax receipts. They included a 6.6 per cent rise in taxes on income and wealth and the introduction of new levies such as the exceptional contribution from large enterprises.
Public spending growth slowed to 2.5 per cent (plus €41.4 billion), helped by lower inflation feeding through to more moderate formal upward adjustments of social benefits, the end of energy price shields and stable public-sector pay.
Social benefits nevertheless accounted for 60 per cent of the spending increase, reflecting ongoing pressures from pensions and minimum social benefits linked to demographic ageing.
The breakdown shows the central state deficit improving by €23 billion, while local authorities recorded a smaller improvement; social security bodies, by contrast, saw their position worsen.
The figures, which constitute France’s notification to the European Commission, were welcomed by some observers as evidence of economic resilience amid political uncertainty.
Erwann Tison of the Institut des Entreprises noted that the economy had performed better than expected despite the crisis context.
Others, though, urged caution. François Ecalle of Fipeco, an independent website and organisation scrutinising public finances, described the performance as one that “must be strongly relativised” given the overall bad nature of French spending.
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu convened an inter-ministerial meeting at Bercy today to address the ongoing challenges.
France has committed to bringing its deficit down to three per cent of GDP by 2029, a target many analysts view as increasingly difficult amid rising debt-servicing costs and external pressures, including higher energy prices linked to international conflict.
The debt increase occurred despite the modest deficit reduction because new borrowing continued to finance the still-substantial shortfall.
Net public debt also rose, reaching 108.4 per cent of GDP.
French authorities have repeatedly highlighted limited fiscal room for manoeuvre in the event of future shocks.
The data come as France, long regarded as one of the higher-deficit countries in the eurozone, faces pressure from Brussels to restore sustainability to its public finances.
With debt servicing costs projected to climb significantly in the coming years, the modest 2025 improvement is seen by many as only a first, limited step on a much longer path of consolidation.
The INSEE estimates remain provisional and are subject to possible revision in the final national accounts publication scheduled for May 2026.
