Both indicators, “External debt stock” and “Gross external debt position” reflect the external debt positon or stock of a country. The “External debt stocks, total (DOD, current US$)” (DT.DOD.DECT.CD) indicator can be found in the International Debt Statistics (IDS) database while the gross external debt positon “0059_T1_Gross External Debt Position and External debt stocks, total (DOD, current US$)” indicator can be found in the Quarterly External Debt Statistics (QEDS).

These indicators may have different values for the same country because they are calculated using different methodologies. Data sourced from the IDS are numbers reported by the country through the World Bank’s Debtor Reporting System and are based on actual flows and debt-related transactions. If the economy does not report these figures, an estimate of its external debt is done by World Bank staff. The IDS presents external debt statistics for about 120 low- and middle-income countries. In the IDS database some countries only report public sector external debt while others also include private sector external debt.

Data from the QEDS are reported on a quarterly basis by the participating countries and normally cover both public and private sector external debt. The QEDS database includes mostly high- and middle-income economies, as well as a number of low-income countries. The external debt reported in QEDS database is disaggregated by institutional sectors, original maturity, and debt instruments. For some economies (mainly low-income), the data is disaggregated only by: Public Sector Debt, Publicly-Guaranteed Private Sector Debt, and Private Sector Debt Not Publicly Guaranteed. Additionally, QEDS data are subject to quarterly revisions, while data from the IDS are only revised annually.