At the end of the fourth quarter of 2018, the government debt to GDP ratio in the euro area (EA19) stood at 85.1%, compared with 86.4% at the end of the third quarter of 2018. In the EU28, the ratio decreased from 81.0% to 80.0%. Compared with the fourth quarter of 2017, the government debt to GDP ratio fell in both the euro area (from 87.1% to 85.1%) and the EU28 (from 81.7% to 80.0%).