US National Debt

National Debt: A Deep Dive into the Numbers
The national debt, as of September 2021, stood at approximately $28.4 trillion. This represents an increase of over $6.5 trillion since 2016, when the national debt was around $19.5 trillion. The federal government's yearly budget deficit reached $3.1 trillion in 2020, primarily due to pandemic-related spending.

The Impact of Tax Revenues and Government Spending
In 2020, federal tax revenues declined by 1.2% compared to the previous year, totaling around $3.4 trillion. At the same time, government spending increased by 47.3% to approximately $6.5 trillion, further widening the budget deficit.

Debt-to-GDP Ratio: A Closer Look
The U.S. debt-to-GDP ratio reached 129% in 2020, a significant increase from 106% in 2019. Comparatively, the global average debt-to-GDP ratio is around 97%, highlighting the increasing burden of the U.S. national debt on its economy.

Understanding the Composition of the National Debt
As of September 2021, the national debt consisted of approximately $22.2 trillion in public debt and $6.2 trillion in intragovernmental debt. Public debt increased by around 58% from 2016, while intragovernmental debt grew by 24% during the same period.

Foreign Holdings of U.S. Debt: A Global Perspective
Foreign investors held around $7.1 trillion of the U.S. national debt as of September 2021, accounting for nearly 25% of the total debt. The largest foreign holders of U.S. debt are Japan and China, with approximately $1.2 trillion and $1.1 trillion in holdings, respectively.

Interest Rates and National Debt
As of September 2021, the average interest rate on the national debt was approximately 2.2%, down from 2.4% in 2016. However, the total interest expense increased from $432 billion in 2016 to around $523 billion in 2020, reflecting the growing debt burden.

Debt Ceiling: A Historical Overview

Since 1960, the debt ceiling has been raised or suspended 79 times, with the most recent suspension ending on August 1, 2021. As of September 2021, the debt ceiling stands at $28.4 trillion, matching the current national debt.

Projected Future National Debt

According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the national debt is projected to reach $35 trillion by 2030, representing a 70% increase from 2020. The CBO also projects that the debt-to-GDP ratio will rise to 195% by 2050, signifying a potentially unsustainable fiscal path for the United States.

Data analasys from US TREASURY