Egypt vs Zambia: Share of government spending going to interest payments
Egypt
24.2%
in 2015
Zambia
26.5%
in 2021
Egypt rank
6th
Zambia rank
4th
Share of government spending going to interest payments over time
- Egypt
- Zambia
How they compare
Zambia currently reports 26.5% against 24.2% in Egypt, a difference of 2.3%.
That makes Zambia's figure about 1.1 times Egypt's.
The two have swapped places 2 times across 14 shared years of data; in 2002 it was Egypt ahead.
Egypt ranks 6th and Zambia ranks 4th of 152 countries.
Egypt has averaged higher in every one of the 2 decades both report.
Head to head by decade
| Decade | Egypt | Zambia | Difference | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 18.2% | 15.4% | 2.8% | Egypt |
| 2010s | 21.0% | 11.0% | 10.0% | Egypt |
Averages of every year both report within each decade.
Frequently asked questions
- Which has higher share of government spending going to interest payments, Egypt or Zambia?
- Zambia, at 26.5% against 24.2% in Egypt as of 2021.
- What is the difference in share of government spending going to interest payments between Egypt and Zambia?
- 2.3%, with Zambia ahead.
- How many years of comparable data are there for Egypt and Zambia?
- 14 years are reported by both, from 2002 to 2015.
- How do Egypt and Zambia rank globally for share of government spending going to interest payments?
- Egypt ranks 6th and Zambia ranks 4th of 152 countries.
- Where does this data come from?
- International Monetary Fund (IMF) Government Finance Statistics, via World Bank (2026) – processed by Our World in Data, published as Share of government spending going to interest payments. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.
Individual pages
About this data
Interest expenditures on government debt, as share of total central government expenditures. Interest expenditures on government debt include payments on long-term bonds, long-term loans, and other debt instruments.