29 quotable statistics on government debt worldwide, computed at the moment you loaded this page. All figures are modeled estimates anchored to IMF World Economic Outlook baseline data and projected continuously between releases; they are not official government figures and are not pulled in real time from Treasury or IMF systems. Baselines are reviewed quarterly, and every number is reproducible via the snapshot API.
Global government debt stands at approximately $102.69 trillion ($102,690,645,146,475) as of July 20, 2026.
World government debt is growing at an estimated $155,000 per second.
Governments worldwide add roughly $13.4 billion in new debt every day.
On current trend, world government debt rises by about $4.89 trillion per year.
Global public debt increases by $1 billion approximately every 1.8 hours.
World government debt equals roughly $12,678 for every person on Earth (8.1 billion people).
Global government debt is equivalent to approximately 94% of world GDP.
The United States national debt is approximately $39.86 trillion ($39,856,896,656,889) as of July 20, 2026 — the largest of any country.
The U.S. national debt grows by roughly $5.2 billion per day, or $60,200 every second.
On its current trajectory, U.S. government debt increases by about $1.90 trillion per year.
U.S. national debt per citizen is approximately $118,604.
U.S. government debt equals approximately 124% of GDP.
At its current growth rate, the U.S. national debt is projected to cross $40 trillion around August 17, 2026.
The United States accounts for approximately 38.8% of all government debt worldwide.
China's government debt is approximately $19.65 trillion, the second-largest of any country (on the narrow general-government basis; the IMF's augmented measure including LGFVs is substantially higher).
Japan has the highest debt-to-GDP ratio of any major developed economy, at approximately 230% — its debt totals about $10.24 trillion.
The five largest sovereign debtors (United States, China, Japan, France, United Kingdom) owe a combined $78.29 trillion — about 76.2% of all government debt worldwide.
The ten largest sovereign debtors account for approximately 91.4% of global government debt ($93.86 trillion).
Americas is the region with the largest combined government debt, at approximately $47.29 trillion.
20 of the 137 sovereign governments tracked carry debt exceeding 100% of their GDP.
28 of 137 tracked sovereigns have government debt above 90% of GDP.
58 of 137 tracked sovereigns exceed the 60% debt-to-GDP threshold used in the EU's Maastricht criteria.
15 of 137 tracked sovereigns keep government debt below 30% of GDP.
The median debt-to-GDP ratio across 137 tracked sovereigns is approximately 58.0%.
Sudan has the highest government debt-to-GDP ratio of any tracked sovereign, at approximately 252% of GDP, followed by Venezuela at 240%.
Kuwait has the lowest government debt-to-GDP ratio of any tracked sovereign, at approximately 7% of GDP.
United States carries the highest government debt per citizen, at approximately $118,604 per person.
United States has the fastest-growing government debt in dollar terms, adding roughly $60,200 per second — ahead of China at $25,000 per second.
34 of the 137 tracked sovereigns currently show flat or near-zero government debt growth in the model.