So Australians are good at something! The Bank of International...

So Australians are good at something! The Bank of International Settlements

From this chart, it is worth pointing out that:

• All of the countries significantly increased their indebtedness from 1990 onwards up until the time of the Global Financial Crisis in 2007/2008. This is a reflection of the structural decline in worldwide interest rates that took place during this time period.
• From 2007/2008, UK, USA, New Zealand and Ireland (Ireland to an extreme extent!) have reduced their indebtedness while Australian and Canadian households have continued to increase their borrowing levels.
• Australian households are by a clear margin the most indebted, carrying around 50 per cent more debt that UK and US households.

The BIS also provides debt service ratios on a household basis. This basically shows how much household’s income goes towards servicing their debt and is potentially an even better indication of how indebted households are, as there can be structural differences in interest rates and repayment profiles between different countries.

So at least Australian
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