With Vietnam's total public debts at 51.7 percent of GDP, each Vietnamese owes nearly US$600, according to the “global debt clock” in the UK-based magazine, The Economist.
The clock, available at http://www.economist.com/content/global_debt_clock, does not stop ticking, adding several hundred thousand dollars every second.
At 9:30 am in Vietnam today, the global debt had risen to $39.95 trillion from $39.79 trillion at 3:00 pm Tuesday.
Vietnam's debt was $50,935,068,493 (US$50.9 billion), meaning its 87.6 million people each owe $581.45.
Since 2001, when it was a mere $106 per capita and 26.6 percent of GDP, the figure has been rising.
The forecast for 2011 is slightly optimistic since, though the debt will increase by nearly $6 billion, as a ratio of GDP it will fall to 50.9 percent. The per capita figure will be $638.
The US, Canada, and Western Europe lead the ranking. Every French citizen, for instance, bears a debt of nearly $32,000 while in Greece it is $34,000.
The International Monetary Fund warned recently that unemployment, high public debt, and a weak banking system will be a threat to global prosperity.
