This paper describes the compilation of the first truly comprehensive historical public debt database (HPDD) covering gross government debt-to-GDP ratios for nearly the entire country membership of the IMF and spanning a long time period. The HPDD covers 174 countries and starts from 1880 for most G-7 countries and a few other advanced and emerging economies, and from 1920 for additional advanced and emerging economies. 2 For low-income countries (LICs), data coverage generally starts in 1970. The HPDD was compiled by bringing together a number of other databases of individual researchers or institutional bodies, as well as information from official government.
