China, Japan Lead Way

On December 30th, 2011, the total public debt outstanding of the United States was:

15,222,940,045,451.09

Of this $15.2 trillion in debt, an estimated $5.001 trillion was owned by “foreign holders”, including China, Japan, Brazil and Canada. This is up from the $4.4356 trillion in US debt that was held by “foreign holders” in December of 2010.

Let’s take a look at the top 20 foreign holders of US debt as of December, 2011:

China - $1.15 trillion
Japan - $1.06 trillion
Oil Exporters - $258.7 billion
Caribbean Banking Centers - $227.5 billion
Brazil - $226.9 billion
Taiwan - $177.3 billion
Luxembourg - $150.6 billion
Russia - $149.5 billion
Switzerland - $142.5 billion
Belgium - $135.2 billion
Hong Kong - $121.7 billion
United Kingdom - $112.4 billion
Ireland - $95.2 billion
Singapore - $75.2 billion
Germany - $60.7 billion
Norway - $56.7 billion
Thailand - $51.6 billion
Korea - $47.3 billion
Canada - $45.4 billion
France - $44.7 billion

China, as has been noted in the media over the past few days, actually reduced the size of its US debt holdings in 2011. This is the first time that this has happened in at least the past decade.

Japan continues to snap up US debt and may very well take over the #1 spot from China sometime over the next 12 months.

Source: Major Foreign Holders of Treasury Securities

Filed under: General Knowledge