Insee Première · May 2021 · n° 1859

General government account in 2020 A historic public deficit in the context of the health crisis

In 2020, the public deficit stood at 212.0 billion euros, or 9.2% of gross domestic product, up 6.1 points of GDP compared to 2019. The action of public administrations in the context of the health crisis led to a very sharp increase in public expenditure. At the same time, public revenues suffered greatly from the fall in activity. The deterioration of the public balance came primarily from the State and social security administrations. The public debt reached 115.1% of GDP at the end of 2020.