United States Gross External Debt (2024)

FAQs

How much external debt does the United States have? ›

India takes the top spot. The world's most populous country owed $38.3bn to the WB at the end of 2022, down by almost $1.5bn from a year earlier.

Nearly half of all US foreign-owned debt comes from five countries. All values are adjusted to 2023 dollars. As of January 2023, the five countries owning the most US debt are Japan ($1.1 trillion), China ($859 billion), the United Kingdom ($668 billion), Belgium ($331 billion), and Luxembourg ($318 billion).

U.S. publicly held debt 2013-2024

In April 2024, the public debt of the United States was around 34.62 trillion U.S. dollars, more than two trillion more than in July when it was around 32.6 trillion U.S. dollars.

Japan has the highest percentage of national debt in the world at 259.43% of its annual GDP.

The public owes 74 percent of the current federal debt. Intragovernmental debt accounts for 26 percent or $5.9 trillion. The public includes foreign investors and foreign governments. These two groups account for 30 percent of the debt.

The sudden rise in inflation has pushed global debt to new highs. In the second quarter of 2023, global debt was recorded as $307 trillion, largely driven by developed countries like the US, Japan, the UK and France.

Singapore is one of Asia's major financial centers. It is also one of the most prosperous countries on the planet. And all this has been achieved without taking on any meaningful public debt. In fact, very much like Norway, Singapore has more assets than debt.

Consequences of Owing Debt to the Chinese

If China called in all of its U.S. holdings, the U.S. dollar would depreciate, whereas the yuan would appreciate, making Chinese goods more expensive.

What would happen if the US paid off its debt? ›

Answer and Explanation:

If the U.S. was to pay off their debt ultimately, there is not much that would happen. Paying off the debt implies that the government will now focus on using the revenue collected primarily from taxes to fund its activities.

Tax hikes alone are rarely enough to stimulate the economy and pay down debt. Governments often issue debt in the form of bonds to raise money. Spending cuts and tax hikes combined have helped lower the deficit. Bailouts and debt defaults have disadvantages but can help a government solve a debt problem.

For context, 31 billionaires are each worth more than the federal government's $38.8 billion in cash, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Some of them, like fashion mogul Bernard Arnault – are worth a lot more. Arnault, the chairman of luxury goods maker LVMH, has a net worth estimated at $193 billion.

A nation saddled with debt will have less to invest in its own future. Rising debt means fewer economic opportunities for Americans. Rising debt reduces business investment and slows economic growth. It also increases expectations of higher rates of inflation and erosion of confidence in the U.S. dollar.

The financial position of the United States includes assets of at least $269 trillion (1576% of GDP) and debts of $145.8 trillion (852% of GDP) to produce a net worth of at least $123.8 trillion (723% of GDP).

It is widely known that the United States holds a difficult-to-fathom amount of debt. In fact, the nearly 17 Trillion dollars represents the largest external debt in the world.

Thirty-four percent of the U.S. debt is held internationally by foreign investors (i.e. foreign governments, foreign institutions, and individual people in foreign countries) who buy our Treasury bonds as investments.

As of December 2023, total federal debt was $33.1 trillion; $26.5 trillion held by the public and $12.1 trillion in intragovernmental debt.

By the numbers: In the last century, the U.S. federal debt has risen from an inflation-adjusted $403 billion in 1923 to $33.17 trillion in 2023. The U.S. debt-to-GDP ratio surpassed 100% in 2013 and currently stands at 123%, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).