Whether a huge national debt indicates a bad economic situation in the country has been always a big question for me. Look at the list of top 5 countries with the highest external debt:



Can we say that the countries from the list above have poorer economic situation than that of the countries from the list below?



Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_external_debt

Or, if we take GDP into consideration,


Source: http://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/countries-by-national-debt/

Would it be right to suggest that economic situation in Sudan is somehow better than that in Japan?