U.S. National Debt Clock February 2012

An Overview of the United States National Debt

The Current Outstanding Public Debt of the United States is:

$15,351,406,294,640.49

Last Updated: Saturday, February 4th, 2012 (updated daily)


Every man, woman and child in the United States currently owes $50,527 for their share of the U.S. public debt






Public Debt: $10,577,905,838,990.46
Intragovernmental Holdings: $4,773,500,455,650.03

Total U.S. National Debt: $15,351,406,294,640.49


Question: Who owns the public debt?

Answer: Mutual funds, pension funds, foreign governments, foreign investors, American investors, etc.

Which Foreign governments own the most U.S. debt?

Answer: Here is the Top 10 (as of Oct/2011)

1. China, Mainland, $1134.1 billion dollars
2. Japan, $979.0 billion dollars
3. United Kingdom, $408.4 billion dollars
4. Oil Exporters*, $226.2 billion dollars
5. All Other, $217.3 billion dollars
6. Brazil, $209.1 billion dollars
7. Carib Bnkng Ctrs**, $175.2 billion dollars
8. Taiwan, $150.1 billion dollars
9. Switzerland, $131.7 billion dollars
10. Hong Kong, $110.7 billion dollars

*Includes oil exporting countries such as Saudi Arabia and Iran

**includes countries such as Bermuda and the Cayman Islands

Of the $4.3 trillion dollars of US debt that is owned by foreign governments, China and Japan own nearly half, as evidenced by this chart:




Growth of US Debt Over Past 50 Years

Current: $15,351,406,294,640.49
2004: $7,379,052,696,330.32
1999: $5,656,270,901,615.43
1994: $4,692,749,910,013.32
1989: $2,857,430,960,187.32
1984: $1,572,266,000,000.00
1979: $826,519,000,000.00
1974: $475,059,815,731.55
1969: $353,720,253,841.41
1964: $311,712,899,257.30
1959: $284,705,907,078.22