In 2014, one sovereign that Standard&Poor's Ratings Services rates defaulted: We lowered the foreign-currency sovereign credit rating on Argentina to 'SD' from 'CCC-' in July after it failed to make an interest payment. Of the 127 active sovereign ratings as of the beginning of 2014, we lowered 19 (including Argentina), raised 11, and withdrew two by the end of the year. Ratings on 95 sovereigns remained the same throughout 2014, and we assigned new ratings to three. This study is based on long-term sovereign credit ratings. The methodology tracks rating migrations over time and includes revisions to 'SD' (selective default). An 'SD' rating is more common for sovereign issuers than 'D', as defaulting sovereigns often continue to service
