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Retail government bonds in Spain: how much individuals hold and what is on sale

Short answer: Individuals in Spain hold EUR 26.0 billion of Spanish State debt securities as of 31 August 2026, 1.73% of all State debt securities. Spain ranks eighth by this share among the 13 countries for which an official source gives both the amount and the debt. The share was 2.09% at the end of 2007, fell to 0.09% at the end of 2021 and jumped to 2.01% at the end of 2023; it was 2.04% at the end of 2024 and 1.54% at the end of 2025. Most of it is in Letras del Tesoro, bills of up to 12 months: EUR 22.5 billion.

How has it changed?

Share of all State debt securities, end of year

2007 2.1% 2010 2015 2020 2025 1.5%

Share of Spanish State debt securities held by individuals (personas físicas) at the end of each year, at nominal value. Spain has no programme sold only to individuals, so this counts all State securities that individuals hold. Source: Secretaría General del Tesoro (data Banco de España); calculation obrotomierz.pl. File: obieg-szereg.csv.

Every figure for Spain in the dataset

Each row is one figure as published in an official source, with what it covers. Class A is a programme sold only to individuals; class C counts all government securities that households hold, with no retail programme; class X is a broader line or one that includes deposits, so it is never added to the A rows it contains.

Retail government bonds in Spain: every figure in the dataset
Programme What it covers Class Amount As of Share of debt
Personas físicas: holdings of Letras del Tesoro bills held by natural persons; not a programme C 22.5 bn EUR 2026-08-31 not given
Personas físicas: holdings of all State debt all non-stripped State debt plus stripped principal held by natural persons C 26.0 bn EUR 2026-08-31 1.73%

How Spain compares

An official source gives the amount of government bonds sold to individuals in 16 countries; for 13 of them it also gives the debt, so we can compute a share. The figures are not fully comparable: each country measures its debt differently, and the class column above says what the amount covers.

Government bonds sold to individuals: latest amount in 16 countries
Country Amount As of Share of debt
Hungary 12,542.1 bn HUF 2026-09-30 18.51%
Portugal 45.4 bn EUR 2026-09-30 14.44%
Poland 194.4 bn PLN 2026-08-31 8.64%
Ireland 19.4 bn EUR 2025-12-31 8.36%
Italy 112.6 bn EUR 2026-09-30 4.16%
Czechia 130.7 bn CZK 2026-09-30 3.53%
Latvia 503 m EUR 2026-09-30 2.20%
Spain 26.0 bn EUR 2026-08-31 1.73%
Austria 5.4 bn EUR 2025-12-31 1.73%
South Africa 21.9 bn ZAR 2025-03-31 0.43%
United States 145.2 bn USD 2026-10-31 0.36%
Belgium 1.6 bn EUR 2026-06-30 0.29%
Canada under 0.05 bn CAD 2025-03-31 0.00%
United Kingdom 139.6 bn GBP 2026-03-31 not given
Singapore 20.2 bn SGD 2026-11-02 not given
Brazil 279.3 bn BRL 2026-09-30 not given

What is on sale today

Sales: auctions open to anyone: Letras usually on Tuesdays, Bonos and Obligaciones usually on the first and third Thursday of the month; directly from the Treasury for residents only, others through a bank or broker. We checked this on the issuer’s page, tesoro.es, on 25 October 2026.

Sources

Data and citation

Every number on this page comes from our open dataset on government savings bonds for individuals in 195 countries (CC BY 4.0, DOI 10.5281/zenodo.23638786 for all versions; the citation below gives the DOI of this version). Files for Spain and the other countries: obieg.csv, obieg-szereg.csv, obieg-zrodla.csv, produkty.csv and marze.csv (column names in Polish, described on the dataset page).

Błażewski, R. (2026). Government savings bonds for individuals in 195 countries (version 2026-11-13) [Data set]. obrotomierz.pl. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.24168443

Frequently asked questions

How much do individuals hold in Spain’s retail government bonds?

Individuals in Spain hold EUR 26.0 billion of Spanish State debt securities as of 31 August 2026, 1.73% of all State debt securities. Spain ranks eighth by this share among the 13 countries for which an official source gives both the amount and the debt. The share was 2.09% at the end of 2007, fell to 0.09% at the end of 2021 and jumped to 2.01% at the end of 2023; it was 2.04% at the end of 2024 and 1.54% at the end of 2025. Most of it is in Letras del Tesoro, bills of up to 12 months: EUR 22.5 billion.

Can individuals buy government bonds directly in Spain?

Yes. Spain sells Letras del Tesoro, Bonos y Obligaciones del Estado (all fixed) and Bonos y Obligaciones del Estado indexados (both inflation + market real rate). Sales: auctions open to anyone: Letras usually on Tuesdays, Bonos and Obligaciones usually on the first and third Thursday of the month; directly from the Treasury for residents only, others through a bank or broker. The issuer’s page is tesoro.es.

Does Spain sell inflation-linked bonds to individuals?

Yes, but not as a savings product with a margin fixed for savers. The Treasury auctions inflation-linked Bonos and Obligaciones del Estado, indexed to euro area inflation excluding tobacco, and anyone can bid at its auctions; the real yield is set at the auction by the market. Residents of Spain can buy directly from the Treasury, others through a bank or broker.

Other countries

By Rafał Błażewski, obrotomierz.pl. Amounts and debt figures as published in the official sources listed above; shares calculated by us. We show who sells what and do not recommend any product; we earn nothing from government bonds.