The U.S. debt is the sum of all outstanding amounts owed by the federal government. As of February 2020, it exceeded $23 trillion.1 The U.S. Treasury Department tracks the current total public debt outstanding, and this figure changes daily. The debt clock in New York also tracks it.

Nearly 75% of this debt is held by the public.2 The government owes this to buyers of U.S. Treasury bills, notes, and bonds, including individuals, companies, and foreign governments.

The remaining quarter is intragovernmental debt. The Treasury owes this debt to its various departments who hold government account securities, such as Social Security, which is one of the biggest owners. These government account securities have been running surpluses for years, and the federal government uses these surpluses to pay for other departments. These securities will come due as baby boomers retire over the next two decades. Since Social Security and trust funds are the largest owners, the answer as to who owns the U.S. debt is basically everyone’s retirement money.

America's debt is the largest sovereign debt in the world for a single country. It runs neck and neck with that of the European Union, which is a unified trade body of 27 member countries.
The national debt is greater than what America produces in a whole year. This high debt-to-gross domestic product ratio tells investors that the country might have problems repaying the loans. That's a new and worrying occurrence for the U.S. In 1988, the debt was only half of America's economic output.3

How the U.S. Debt Got So Large
The chart below tracks U.S. debt from 1989 to 2019. It has increased by more than 680% during that time. In September 2019, the end of the government's fiscal year the national debt was about $22.7 trillion.4 This figure includes both debt held by the public and intragovernmental debt.


Article Sources
Office of Management and Budget. "A Budget for America's Future," Page 6. Accessed Feb. 12, 2020.

Seriously

Well84:
Seriously

Shebi it's when Buhari wants to borrow a little sum that y'all will wail and smash your head on the wall.

By the time 80% of GDP is used to SERVICE debt not REPAY debt(understand the difference), you would understand buharinomics is brainless and your doom.

Officialgarri:

Shebi it's when Buhari wants to borrow a little sum that y'all will wail and smash your head on the wall.

Officialgarri:

Shebi it's when Buhari wants to borrow a little sum that y'all will wail and smash your head on the wall.

US debts can be justified. Buhari and APC wants to borrow so they can embezzle and plunge us into more debts. That's the difference.

@officialgarri shebi you see the people wey US de owe? Not China and definitely not UK.

I believe if the government is honest about the corruption fight, if we can account for the monies all out agencies and ministries misappropriate we don’t need a foreign loan.

143WaZoBia:
@officialgarri shebi you see the people wey US de owe? Not China and definitely not UK.

I believe if the government is honest about the corruption fight, if we can account for the monies all out agencies and ministries misappropriate we don’t need a foreign loan.

.

mercyville:
.

Noted. Thanks for the enlightenment