In the euro area the government deficit to GDP ratio decreased from 6.3% in 2009 to 6.0% in 2010, and in the EU27 from 6.8% to 6.4%. In the euro area the government debt to GDP ratio increased from 79.3% to 85.1% by the end of 2010, and in the EU27 from 74.4% to 80.0%.
In 2010 the largest government deficits in percentage of GDP were recorded in Ireland (-32.4%), and Greece (-10.5%) while the lowest deficits were recorded in Luxembourg (-1.7%) and Finland (-2.5%).
At the end of 2010, the lowest ratios of government debt to GDP were recorded in Estonia (6.6%) and Bulgaria (16.2%). Hungary with its government debt at 80.2% is among the fourteen EU countries that had government debt ratios higher than 60% of GDP in 2010 and is accompanied by countries such as Belgium (96.8%), Ireland (96.3%) or France (81.7%).
According to Eurostat, in 2010, government expenditure in the euro area was equivalent to 50.4% of GDP and government revenue to 44.4%. The figures for the EU27 were 50.3% and 44.0% respectively. In both zones, the government expenditure ratio decreased between 2009 and 2010, while the government revenue ratio remained almost unchanged.
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