How much debt does the New Zealand government have?
Net government debt was $182.2 billion, 41.8% of GDP, or $34,212 per person (The Treasury (New Zealand), 2024/25).
Updated
Gross sovereign-issued debt less core Crown financial assets, excluding advances and assets held by the NZ Super Fund. Treasury describes it as information about the sustainability of the government's accounts, used by some rating agencies. Treasury notes it was the headline indicator between 2009 and 2021.
One of three different net debt measures Treasury has used as its headline. They are not interchangeable, see "Net debt measures compared". In this source the $ millions series starts in 1991/92 but the % of GDP series only starts in 2004/05.
Dividing a national total by population puts it on a human scale. Spending per person is an average across the country; the amount spent on each person varies with their circumstances.
Read the period beside each number before comparing it with another figure. A monthly observation, a quarterly result and a financial year cover different spans of time. The latest release can also revise earlier observations. The chart and downloads keep the published periods so you can check which figures are being compared. A change in net debt describes what happened during that period; it does not by itself explain why it happened or identify the effect of a government policy. Definitions and coverage matter as much as the size of a change.
Net government debt (excl. NZS Fund and advances) was $175,464 million in 2023/24, a year earlier.
The earliest observation on the same basis was $19,879 million in 2004/05.
Net debt: definitions
Gross sovereign-issued debt less core Crown financial assets, excluding advances and assets held by the NZ Super Fund. Treasury describes it as information about the sustainability of the government's accounts, used by some rating agencies. Treasury notes it was the headline indicator between 2009 and 2021.
- One of three different net debt measures Treasury has used as its headline. They are not interchangeable, see "Net debt measures compared".
- In this source the $ millions series starts in 1991/92 but the % of GDP series only starts in 2004/05.
Show the figures
| Period | Net core Crown debt (excl. NZS Fund and advances) ($m) |
|---|---|
| 2024/25 | $182,171 million |
| 2023/24 | $175,464 million |
| 2022/23 | $155,273 million |
| 2021/22 | $128,873 million |
| 2020/21 | $102,080 million |
| 2019/20 | $83,375 million |
| 2018/19 | $57,736 million |
| 2017/18 | $57,495 million |
| 2016/17 | $59,480 million |
| 2015/16 | $61,880 million |
| 2014/15 | $60,631 million |
| 2013/14 | $59,931 million |
| 2012/13 | $55,835 million |
| 2011/12 | $50,671 million |
| 2010/11 | $40,128 million |
| 2009/10 | $26,738 million |
| 2008/09 | $17,119 million |
| 2007/08 | $10,258 million |
| 2006/07 | $13,380 million |
| 2005/06 | $16,162.7 million |
Fiscal years. Year ended 31 March to 1989, year ended 30 June from 1990 (the April–June 1989 quarter falls between the two).. Source: The Treasury (New Zealand). Lines break at basis changes and missing periods.
Net debt: questions for your AI
Download the data, attach it in your assistant, then paste the prompt.
The attached CSV is net government debt, from The Treasury (New Zealand). Answer: How much debt does the New Zealand government have? Name the unit and period. Use only directly supported observations. Definitions: Gross sovereign-issued debt less core Crown financial assets, excluding advances and assets held by the NZ Super Fund. Treasury describes it as information about the sustainability of the government's accounts, used by some rating agencies. Treasury notes it was the headline indicator between 2009 and 2021. Limits: One of three different net debt measures Treasury has used as its headline. They are not interchangeable, see "Net debt measures compared". In this source the $ millions series starts in 1991/92 but the % of GDP series only starts in 2004/05.
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Net debt: sources
The source publication, licence and snapshot used to build this page.
- Organisation
- The Treasury (New Zealand), Fiscal Time Series – Historical Fiscal Indicators
- Licence
- Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). Source: The Treasury, Fiscal Time Series – Historical Fiscal Indicators, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Figures transformed and calculated by NZ in Numbers.
- Reuse limits
- Treasury logos, emblems, trade marks and website design are not covered and must not be reused.
- Snapshot
- data/raw/treasury-hfi/2026-10-10_de59f9028a81.xlsx
- SHA256
- de59f9028a81a697ee66eea04861edfd8e2c3a7e472b3b8798d976951964f70f
- Retrieved
- 10 October 2026