Ukraine’s public debt per capita has increased eightfold since 2010

Since 2010, Ukraine’s public debt per capita has risen from about $900 to more than $7,200.

That is, in effect, an eightfold increase.

This was stated by Ukrainian economist Oleh Bilinskyi.

“This is the real dynamic of the burden regardless of the reasons, whether it is the growth of the debt itself or the reduction of the population,” he wrote on social media.

The expert clarified that, as of 2025–2026, this level means that the debt per Ukrainian is equal to about 1.2–1.3 annual salaries. In other words, the average resident of Ukraine would need to work for more than a year to условно cover his or her share of the public debt, he added.

Bilinskyi noted that in Poland this figure is about 0.7–0.8 of an annual salary. That means less than a year of work, the economist concluded.

As a reminder, on April 16 the IMF published a forecast according to which Ukraine’s public debt will reach 122.6% of GDP this year. Analysts expect the country’s debt to peak in 2027 at 137.1% of GDP. After that, the figure is expected to gradually decline: to 135.5% in 2028, 131.9% in 2029, 125.7% in 2030, and 119.6% of GDP in 2031.