Size of the debt: What are the significant recent developments?

By breaking down the trend in the global debt ratio into its different components, we seek to determine whether interesting developments can be seen. We see that since 2003-2004, interest rates have been abnormally low relative to growth in all regions of the world. This has pushed up debt ratios (in OECD countries, China and emerging countries excluding China), except for the private sector debt ratio in OECD countries, which is declining. Households and companies in OECD countries therefore no longer react to very low interest rates by running up debt.