This year’s edition of International Debt Statistics,successor to Global Development Finance andWorld Debt Tables, is designed to respond to userdemand for timely, comprehensive data on trendsin external debt in low- and middle-income countries.The World Bank’s Debtor Reporting System(DRS), from which the aggregate and country tablespresented in this report are drawn, was establishedin 1951. World Debt Tables, the first publication thatincluded DRS external debt data, appeared in 1973and gained increased attention during the debt crisisof the 1980s. Since then, the publication and datahave undergone numerous revisions and iterationsto address the challenges and demands posed by theglobal economic conditions. Presentation of and access to data have beenrefined to improve the user experience. The onlineedition of International Debt Statistics 2019 now providesa summary overview and a select set of indicators,while an expanded dataset is available online(datatopics.worldbank.org /debt/ids).