The 17 countries with the highest level of government debt

The World Economic Forum's recently-released Global Competitiveness Survey looks at the financial health and risks of countries around the world.

One of the most interesting and important rankings is actually the level of government debt.

By looking at level of gross government debt as a percentage of GDP, it can indicate how able a country is to pay back debts without incurring further debt.

Basically the lower the debt-to-GDP ratio the better.

In Britain, the level of government debt is used as a political football and it's regularly commented on about how high the country's debt is in relation to GDP.

However, if you look at WEF's rankings, Britain doesn't even come close to the top 10, with government debt as a percentage of GDP at 90.1%.

When you see who made the top 17, you'll understand why Britain isn't as bad as you think.