European debt crisis
![Long-term interest rates (secondary market yields of government bonds with maturities of close to ten years) of all eurozone countries except Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.[1] A yield being more than 4% points higher compared to the lowest comparable yield among the eurozone states, i.e. yields above 6% in September 2011, indicates that financial institutions have serious doubts about credit-worthiness of the state.[2]](/Images/godic/202501/26/Long-term_interest_rates_(eurozone)1853.png")
![Total (gross) government debt around the world as a percent of GDP by IMF](/Images/godic/202501/26/Government_debt_gdp1853.jpg")
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The European debt crisis (often also referred to as the Eurozone crisis or the European sovereign debt crisis) is a multi-year debt crisis that has been taking place in the European Union since the end of 2009. Several eurozone member states (Greece, Portugal, Ireland, Spain and Cyprus) were unable to repay or refinance their government debt or to bail out over-indebted banks under their national supervision without the assistance of third parties like other Eurozone countries, the European Central Bank (ECB), or the International Monetary Fund (IMF).