The European sovereign debt dwarfs, that is, is far larger than, the debt at the centre of the Latin American debt crisis.

Compare the sovereign debt of the troubled euro-area countries in 2010 (Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Italy) with the debt at the centre of the 1980s Latin American debt crisis, using nominal amounts and amounts relative to world GDP or creditor bank capital. 'Dwarfs' means much larger, several times over. TRUE: the European figure is several times larger in nominal terms and still clearly larger on a relative (inflation- or GDP-adjusted) basis. MOSTLY TRUE: it is several times larger nominally but only moderately larger in relative terms. MIXED: it is clearly larger nominally but comparable once adjusted. MOSTLY FALSE: it is only modestly larger, or larger only on a narrow measure. FALSE: the European debt is smaller, or about the same size, on standard measures.

Set before the research began.

1. E1 Sovereign Debt Crisis in Europe Recalls the Lost Decade in Latin America Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (The Regional Economist) · January 2015

   “Instead, debt went from being 30 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) on average in 1979 to nearly 50 percent in 1982 for the larger Latin American countries.”

2. E2 Sovereign Debt Crisis in Europe Recalls the Lost Decade in Latin America Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (The Regional Economist) · January 2015

   “Debt went from being 90 percent of GDP on average in 2000 to 200 percent in 2009 (see Figure 1), right before Greece first requested financial aid from the International Monetary Fund.”

3. E3 Sovereign Debt Crisis in Europe Recalls the Lost Decade in Latin America Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (The Regional Economist) · January 2015

   “The Latin American countries in the sample are Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Mexico, while the European countries in the sample are Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain.”

4. E4 Latin American Debt Crisis of the 1980s Federal Reserve History (Federal Reserve System) · 7 April 2025

   “At the end of 1970, total outstanding debt from all sources totaled only $29 billion, but by the end of 1978, that number had skyrocketed to $159 billion. By 1982, the debt level reached $327 billion (FDIC 1997).”

5. E5 Latin American Debt Crisis of the 1980s Federal Reserve History (Federal Reserve System) · 7 April 2025

   “Mexico would no longer be able to service its debt, which at that point totaled $80 billion.”

6. E6 Latin American Debt Crisis of the 1980s Federal Reserve History (Federal Reserve System) · 7 April 2025

   “Still, by 1982, the nine largest US money-center banks held Latin American debt amounting to 176 percent of their capital; their total LDC debt was nearly 290 percent of capital (Sachs 1988).”

7. E7 BIS Quarterly Review, June 2010: International banking and financial market developments Bank for International Settlements · June 2010

   “At the end of 2009, they had $958 billion of combined exposures ($493 billion and $465 billion, respectively) to the residents of these countries.”

E4 gives a nominal figure for Latin American debt of $327 billion in 1982, from all sources rather than sovereign debt alone. No item gives a nominal figure for the 2010 sovereign debt of Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Italy. E7 reports $958 billion of combined exposures, but the quote does not say whose exposures they are or which countries' residents are meant, and it does not separate sovereign from other claims. E1 and E2 put debt against each group's own GDP: nearly 50% for the Latin American countries in 1982 and 200% for the European sample in 2009. Those ratios do not say whether the debt is sovereign, and they are not measured against world GDP or creditor bank capital. E6 gives the bank-capital ratio for Latin America only, so the comparison the criteria require cannot be completed from this evidence.