By the end of 2021, the federal government had $28.43 trillion in federal debt.
Every fiscal year since 2002, the federal government has run a deficit—meaning spending exceeds its revenues—and added to its debt. Going forward, spending, including for Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid, and net interest on the debt, is projected to continue to outpace revenue by increasing amounts.
The national debt has increased every year over the past ten years. Interest expenses during this period have remained fairly stable due to low interest rates and investors' judgement that the U.S. Government has a very low risk of default.
Foreign governments who have purchased U.S. treasuries include China, Japan, Brazil, Ireland, the U.K. and others. China represents 29 percent of all treasuries issued to other countries, which corresponds to $1.18 trillion. Japan holds the equivalent of $1.03 trillion in treasuries.
The U.S. national debt hit a record level and exceeded $27.8 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2020. 1 That is more than America's annual economic output as measured by its gross domestic product. The last time the debt-to-GDP ratio was so high was after the 2007-2009 recession.
Alaska is the top state for fiscal stability. It's followed by South Dakota, Tennessee, Idaho and Utah to round out the top five. Half of the 10 states with the best fiscal stability also rank among the top 10 Best States overall. Learn more about the Best States for fiscal stability below.
Switzerland is the economically stable country in the world, according to the USNews Report 2019 Best Countries list, a perception-based series of rankings. The 2019 rankings of the world's most economically stable countries placed Germany in 2nd ahead of Sweden into 3rd; while Canada ranked 4th, and Australia 5th.
China has steadily accumulated U.S. Treasury securities over the last few decades. As of October 2021, the Asian nation owns $1.065 trillion, or about 3.68%, of the $28.9 trillion U.S. national debt, which is more than any other foreign country except Japan.
There are countries such as Jersey and Guernsey which have no national debt, so the pay no interest. All this started with the Napoleonic wars when the government borrowed money to fund the war.
Continuing a trend that began early in 2021, China's portfolio of U.S. government debt in May dropped to $980.8 billion, according to Treasury Department data released Monday. That's a decline of nearly $23 billion from April and down nearly $100 billion, or 9%, from the year-earlier month.
According to a report published by Moody's Analytics, the US GDP would decline, approximately 6 million jobs would be lost and the unemployment rate would increase dramatically. And, just as significantly, the country's track record, at least as far as paying its debts is concerned, would be irrevocably stained.
Japan, with its population of 127,185,332, has the highest national debt in the world at 234.18% of its GDP, followed by Greece at 181.78%. Japan's national debt currently sits at ¥1,028 trillion ($9.087 trillion USD).
Congress has made many attempts to lower the national debt, but it hasn't been able to reduce the growth of what the nation owes. The U.S. debt is the outstanding obligation owed by the federal government.
Tax Cuts. Large tax cuts passed by Congress during the presidencies of George W. Bush and Donald Trump have played a large part in the subsequent deterioration of government finances and the resulting growth in the national debt.
A government economist puts that figure, from sea to shining sea, at $22.98 trillion. That's William Larson's estimate for the value of the 1.89 billion acres of land that accounts for the 48 contiguous states and the District of Columbia.
China's debt is more than 250 percent of GDP, higher than the United States.
At the end of July 2021, 53% of federal debt was owned by investors from the United States, including the Federal Reserve. The various trust funds operated by the United States government, like the Social Security and Medicare trust fund accounts, held another 22% of federal debt.
By the end of 2021, the federal government had $28.43 trillion in federal debt.
According to the Bank of Russia's estimate, external debt of the Russian Federation as of June 30, 2022 totaled $472.8 billion, having decreased by $9.2 billion, or by 1.9%, since the last year-end.
If China ever did call in its debt, it slowly would begin selling off its Treasury holdings. Even at a slow pace, dollar demand would drop. That would hurt China's competitiveness by raising the yuan's value relative to the dollar. At some price point, U.S. consumers would buy American products instead.
1. China. And, to one's surprise, China will be the most powerful economy in the world in 2050. But this did not take PwC to come up with this conclusion.
In 2020, United States has dropped to rank 17 according to The Human Freedom Index.
In 2017, Center for International Development at Harvard University, published a research study, projecting that India has emerged as the economic pole of global growth by surpassing China and is expected to maintain its lead over the 2020s.