While government debt continued to rise across much of Europe, Malta remains among the EU’s better-performing countries, with one of the bloc’s lowest debt-to-GDP ratios.New Eurostat figures show Malta’s government debt stood at 45.9% of GDP at the end of the first quarter of this year, well below the EU average of 82.9% and the eurozone average of 88.9%. The country’s debt also fell slightly from 46.4% at the end of 2025.Only a handful of EU countries recorded lower debt levels than Malta, including Estonia (25.2%), Denmark (26.8%), Bulgaria (28.5%) and Luxembourg (29.2%).At the other end of the scale, Greece (143.5%), Italy (138.9%), France (117.6%), Belgium (109.1%) and Spain (101.6%) all carried debt levels exceeding 100% of their annual economic output.Across the European Union, government debt continued to increase, rising from 81.8% to 82.9% of GDP in just one quarter. The eurozone followed the same trend, climbing from 87.7% to 88.9%.Malta was one of eight EU member states to reduce its debt-to-GDP ratio during the quarter, bucking the wider European trend as 17 countries saw their debt increase.What do you make of the numbers?•