Government debt during each prime minister's tenure

Every prime minister since 1991, ranked by how the government debt changed from their first day in office. Politare shows what happened during a tenure; it does not claim the office-holder caused it.

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Results

Order

#	Prime minister	In office	Total	Per year
1	Geir Haarde	15 Jun 2006 – 1 Feb 2009	+41.6 pp 2005 → 2008	+13.9 pp/yr
2	Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir	1 Feb 2009 – 23 May 2013	+22.9 pp 2008 → 2012	+5.7 pp/yr
3	Katrín Jakobsdóttir	30 Nov 2017 – 9 Apr 2024	−9.2 pp 2017 → 2023	−1.5 pp/yr
4	Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson	23 May 2013 – 7 Apr 2016	−35.9 pp 2012 → 2015	−12.0 pp/yr

Sorted by total, highest first. Every row is indexed to the last count complete before the first day in office ("from" marks a start that had to move because that count had no data, or because the period cut it); Levels are per cent changes, rates are differences in pp; "per year" compounds levels and divides rates. Tenures with under 12 months, or under three observations, are left out. % of GDP · IMF World Economic Outlook, general government gross debt (GGXWDG_NGDP), calendar years, the years of actual figures only (the latest an estimate) · Iceland data · as of Oct 2026.