Live - Updating in real time

Victoria's General Government Net Debt

$165,760,000,000

Net debt as of , based on the 2024-25 actual and the 2025-26 Budget Update revised estimate.

Interest accrued today
$0

Victoria currently pays $245 every second on interest. By the end of 2025-26, that will reach $21 million a day. Source: DTF 2025-26 Budget Update, General Government Operating Statement

Debt per Victorian
$23,331
Debt per household
$69,349

All figures from the Victorian DTF 2025-26 Budget Update, ABS 3101.0 (Sep 2025) and Census 2021.

Interest Repayments

What Could $21 Million a Day Buy Instead?

Every day, Victoria pays more than $21 million just on interest. That money goes to banks and bondholders, not to services. Here's what else it could pay for.

0

years a median Victorian worker would need to earn what the state pays in interest every single day. ABS Cat. 6337.0, median VIC FT weekly earnings ($1,700) x 52 = $88,400/yr vs $21.2M/day interest

0 km high

Stack $193 billion in $100 notes and the pile reaches 193 km. That's almost double the edge of space and 648 times the height of the Eureka Tower. RBA: $100 note thickness 0.1mm. $193B = 1.93B notes x 0.1mm = 192.6 km. Edge of space (Karman line) = 100 km.

0 MCGs

You could fill more than 13 MCGs with $100 notes, floor to ceiling, wall to wall. $100 note volume: 158mm × 65mm × 0.1mm = 1,027mm³. MCG volume ~1.5M m³.

History

How We Got Here

From $22.3 billion in 2014-15 to $192.6 billion by 2028-29. Here's what the numbers actually show.

Net Debt 2014-15 to 2028-29
Actual Forward Estimate

Under the Labor Government, net debt went from $22.3 billion in 2014-15 to $150.9 billion by 2024-25, with their own forward estimates projecting $192.6 billion by 2028-29. The biggest jump was during COVID, from 2019-20 to 2021-22.

Projections

Where It's Heading

See where Victoria's debt is heading. You can use the government's own numbers, or switch on historical spending trends to see what's more realistic.

Net Debt Projection to 2028-29
Net Debt 2028-29
$192.6B
Annual Interest
$12.2B
Daily Interest
$33.5M
Per Victorian
$27,132
Average Annual Growth Rates: Actual vs Budget

Each bar compares the actual average annual growth rate under the Labor Government (2015–25) against what they say will happen in their forward estimates (2025–29).

Transparency

Sources & Methodology

Every number on this site comes straight from official Victorian Government data. Here's where it all comes from and how we did the maths.

DS-01 / DS-08
Net Debt Levels and Time Series

Victorian Department of Treasury & Finance. Forecast net debt figures sourced from individual annual budgets for each year; actuals obtained from the DTF aggregate balance sheet. Latest figures from the 2025-26 Budget Update. Net debt from 2014-15 ($22.3B) through to 2028-29 ($192.6B projected).

DS-02
Interest Expense

Victorian Department of Treasury & Finance. Forecast interest expense sourced from individual annual budgets for each year; actuals obtained from the DTF aggregate operating statement. Latest figures from the 2025-26 Budget Update. 2024-25 actual: $6.77B. 2025-26 revised estimate: $7.72B (~$21.2M a day). The real-time counter interpolates between these two figures through the financial year.

DS-03 / DS-04
Population and Households

ABS 3101.0 (population 7,104,349, Sep 2025). ABS Census 2021 G42 (2,390,232 occupied private dwellings).

DS-05
Cost Benchmarks

Budget Papers BP4 (schools $61.5M), ANMF Victoria EBA (nurses $91.5K), BITRE RR148 + PPI (roads $9.1M/km), QLD Minister for Health 2025 (ambulances $265K), ROGS 2026 Part E (hospital beds $1.62M/yr), VAGO Social Housing (housing $409K).

DS-06
Median Earnings

ABS 6337.0 Employee Earnings, Aug 2025. Median VIC full-time weekly earnings: $1,700 ($88,400 annualised).

DS-09
Growth Rates

Victorian Department of Treasury & Finance. Historical growth rates calculated from DTF aggregate balance sheet actuals (2014-15 to 2024-25). Forward estimate growth rates from the 2025-26 Budget Update.

How the Debt Clock Works

The debt counter works out how much debt grows each second based on the gap between last year's actual and this year's revised estimate. For 2024-25 to 2025-26, that's ($165.76B - $150.87B) divided by 31,557,600 seconds in a year, which comes to about $472 per second.

The interest counter interpolates between the 2024-25 actual interest expense ($6.77B) and the 2025-26 revised estimate ($7.72B) based on position in the financial year, the same way the debt counter works. At the start of the year that's about $215 per second, rising to about $245 per second ($21.2M/day) by year end. The comparison section uses the 2025-26 revised annual figure ($7.72B = $21M/day). The counter resets at midnight Melbourne time each day.

Per-person and per-household figures divide the current ticking debt total by the latest ABS population estimate (7,104,349 from ABS 3101.0, Sep 2025) and household count (2,390,232 from Census 2021 G42).

The projection scenarios apply the historical average growth rates (7.19% for operating spending, 15.69% for capital spending) from the Summary Stats analysis to the base year, and compare them against the government's own forward estimates.