An Overview on Sovereign Debt Evolution in the World

Public debts have surged in recent years, in advanced economies, to the levels that have not been recorded since the end of the World War II. The average public debt/GDP ratio for all advances economies has surpassed the pre-World War II peaks reached during the World War I and subsequently during the Great Depression. This paper attempts to realize both a retrospective of public indebtedness critical moments and an analysis of the current sovereign debt crisis that facing many countries of the world.