Savings and debt behaviour in France, Germany and Northern European countries: Are the frugal countries really frugal?

Germany and Northern European countries (Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden) often criticise the fiscal policies conducted in the rest of Europe, and actually have low public debt ratios. It is therefore interesting to c ompare France, on the one hand, and Germany and Northern European countries , on the other hand , with regard to public and private sector savings and debt behaviour, as we cannot assess "virtue" based on the public sector alone. Is the lower public debt in these countries due to the fact that debt has shifted to the private sector? Which economic agent accounts for the excess savings in these countries? We see that: Germany is "virtuous" (frugal) on the whole: low public and private debt, high private and public savings rates; France has a shortfall in savings (public sector and corporate) and has chosen public and not private debt; Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands have excess public and private savings and have chosen private over public debt. The fact that these Northern European countries have both a high private sector savings rate and a high private sector debt ratio is probably explained by the rise in real estate prices and by the presence of large pension funds. While Northern European countries can criticise France and Southern European countries for their very high public debt ratios, Northern European countries can, conversely, be criticised for their excessively high private debt ratios. These countries do not have a frugal private sector.