FEDERAL DEBT AT THE END OF FISCAL YEAR: 1940-2011
(in billions of dollars)
Federal Social
Gross Public Foreign Gov't Security Medicare
Year Debt Debt Debt Accounts Debt Debt
---- ------- ------- ------- -------- -------- --------
1940 50.7 42.8 7.9 1.7 0.0
1941 57.5 48.2 9.3 2.4 0.0
1942 79.2 67.8 11.4 3.2 0.0
1943 142.6 127.8 14.9 4.3 0.0
1944 204.1 184.8 19.3 5.4 0.0
1945 260.1 235.2 24.9 6.6 0.0
1946 271.0 241.9 29.1 7.6 0.0
1947 257.1 224.3 32.8 8.8 0.0
1948 252.0 216.3 35.8 10.0 0.0
1949 252.6 214.3 38.3 11.3 0.0
1950 256.9 219.0 37.8 12.9 0.0
1951 255.3 214.3 41.0 14.7 0.0
1952 259.1 214.8 44.3 16.6 0.0
1953 266.0 218.4 47.6 18.4 0.0
1954 270.8 224.5 46.3 20.0 0.0
1955 274.4 226.6 47.8 21.1 0.0
1956 272.7 222.2 50.5 22.6 0.0
1957 272.3 219.3 52.9 23.4 0.0
1958 279.7 226.3 53.3 23.9 0.0
1959 287.5 234.7 52.8 23.2 0.0
1960 290.5 236.8 53.7 23.0 0.0
1961 292.6 238.4 54.3 23.4 0.0
1962 302.9 248.0 54.9 22.2 0.0
1963 310.3 254.0 56.3 21.4 0.0
1964 316.1 256.8 59.2 22.0 0.0
1965 322.3 260.8 12.3 61.5 22.2 0.0
1966 328.5 263.7 11.6 64.8 21.6 0.9
1967 340.4 266.6 11.4 73.8 25.6 1.8
1968 368.7 289.5 10.7 79.1 28.1 1.7
1969 365.8 278.1 10.3 87.7 31.9 2.4
1970 380.9 283.2 14.0 97.7 37.7 2.7
1971 408.2 303.0 31.8 105.1 40.8 3.4
1972 435.9 322.4 49.2 113.6 43.8 3.3
1973 466.3 340.9 59.4 125.4 44.3 5.1
1974 483.9 343.7 56.8 140.2 46.1 9.2
1975 541.9 394.7 66.0 147.2 48.2 11.3
1976 629.0 477.4 69.8 151.6 44.9 12.1
1977 706.4 549.1 95.5 157.3 39.6 13.4
1978 776.6 607.1 121.0 169.5 35.4 15.8
1979 829.5 640.3 120.3 189.2 33.4 18.4
1980 909.1 711.9 121.7 197.1 32.3 19.0
1981 994.8 789.4 130.7 205.4 27.2 21.8
1982 1137.3 924.6 140.6 212.7 19.3 26.7
1983 1371.7 1137.3 160.1 234.4 32.0 20.4
1984 1564.7 1307.0 175.5 257.6 32.2 26.0
1985 1817.5 1507.4 222.9 310.2 39.8 32.0
1986 2120.6 1740.8 265.5 379.9 45.9 48.1
1987 2346.1 1889.9 279.5 456.2 65.4 57.0
1988 2601.3 2051.8 345.9 549.5 104.2 72.3
1989 2868.0 2191.0 394.9 677.1 156.7 94.7
1990 3206.6 2411.8 440.3 794.7 214.9 110.2
1991 3598.5 2689.3 477.3 909.2 268.4 125.6
1992 4002.1 3000.1 535.2 1002.1 319.2 139.2
1993 4351.4 3248.8 591.3 1102.6 365.9 149.4
1994 4643.7 3433.4 655.8 1210.2 422.7 150.5
1995 4921.0 3604.8 800.4 1316.2 483.2 143.4
1996 5181.9 3734.5 978.1 1447.4 549.6 152.3
1997 5369.7 3772.8 1218.2 1596.9 630.9 151.2
1998 5478.7 3721.6 1216.9 1757.1 730.3 157.8
1999 5606.1 3632.9 1281.4 1973.2 855.0 184.1
2000 5629.0 3410.1 1225.2 2218.9 1006.9 214.0
2001* 5625.0 3174.2 2450.8 1165.6 236.7
2002* 5663.7 2946.8 2716.9 1340.4 270.1
2003* 5723.8 2719.5 3004.3 1533.2 309.8
2004* 5783.5 2473.2 3310.3 1743.0 351.1
2005* 5855.6 2219.4 3636.2 1978.3 397.4
2006* 5912.9 1928.2 3984.8 2228.8 455.7
2007* 5953.0 1602.0 4352.0 2451.6
2008* 6138.0 1404.0 4735.0 2714.7
2009* 6415.0 1279.0 5137.0 2987.7
2010* 6770.0 1208.0 5562.0 3273.9
2011* 7160.0 1158.0 6002.0
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FEDERAL DEBT AT THE END OF FISCAL YEAR: 1940-2011
(as a percent of GDP)
Federal Social
Gross Public Foreign Gov't Security Medicare GDP
Year Debt Debt Debt Accounts Debt Debt ($bil)
---- ------- ------- ------- -------- -------- -------- -------
1940 52.4 44.2 8.2 1.8 0.0 96.7
1941 50.5 42.3 8.2 2.1 0.0 114.0
1942 54.9 47.0 7.9 2.2 0.0 144.2
1943 79.2 70.9 8.3 2.4 0.0 180.1
1944 97.6 88.4 9.2 2.6 0.0 209.0
1945 117.5 106.3 11.3 3.0 0.0 221.3
1946 121.7 108.6 13.1 3.4 0.0 222.7
1947 109.6 95.6 14.0 3.8 0.0 234.6
1948 98.3 84.3 13.9 3.9 0.0 256.4
1949 93.0 78.9 14.1 4.2 0.0 271.5
1950 93.9 80.1 13.8 4.7 0.0 273.4
1951 79.5 66.8 12.8 4.6 0.0 321.0
1952 74.3 61.6 12.7 4.8 0.0 348.8
1953 71.2 58.5 12.7 4.9 0.0 373.4
1954 71.6 59.4 12.3 5.3 0.0 378.0
1955 69.4 57.3 12.1 5.3 0.0 395.2
1956 63.8 51.9 11.8 5.3 0.0 427.7
1957 60.4 48.7 11.7 5.2 0.0 450.7
1958 60.7 49.1 11.6 5.2 0.0 461.1
1959 58.4 47.7 10.7 4.7 0.0 492.1
1960 56.0 45.6 10.3 4.4 0.0 518.9
1961 55.0 44.8 10.2 4.4 0.0 531.8
1962 53.3 43.6 9.7 3.9 0.0 568.5
1963 51.7 42.4 9.4 3.6 0.0 599.7
1964 49.3 40.1 9.2 3.4 0.0 641.3
1965 46.9 37.9 1.8 8.9 3.2 0.0 687.9
1966 43.6 35.0 1.5 8.6 2.9 0.1 754.2
1967 41.8 32.8 1.4 9.1 3.1 0.2 813.5
1968 42.5 33.3 1.2 9.1 3.2 0.2 868.4
1969 38.5 29.3 1.1 9.2 3.4 0.3 949.2
1970 37.6 28.0 1.4 9.6 3.7 0.3 1013.2
1971 37.7 28.0 2.9 9.7 3.8 0.3 1081.4
1972 36.9 27.3 4.2 9.6 3.7 0.3 1181.5
1973 35.6 26.1 4.5 9.6 3.4 0.4 1308.1
1974 33.6 23.8 3.9 9.7 3.2 0.6 1442.1
1975 34.7 25.3 4.2 9.4 3.1 0.7 1559.8
1976 36.2 27.5 4.0 8.7 2.6 0.7 1736.7
1977 35.8 27.9 4.8 8.0 2.0 0.7 1971.3
1978 35.0 27.4 5.5 7.6 1.6 0.7 2218.6
1979 33.1 25.6 4.8 7.6 1.3 0.7 2503.8
1980 33.3 26.1 4.5 7.2 1.2 0.7 2732.1
1981 32.5 25.8 4.3 6.7 0.9 0.7 3061.6
1982 35.2 28.6 4.4 6.6 0.6 0.8 3228.6
1983 39.9 33.1 4.7 6.8 0.9 0.6 3440.5
1984 40.8 34.0 4.6 6.7 0.8 0.7 3839.4
1985 43.9 36.4 5.4 7.5 1.0 0.8 4136.6
1986 48.2 39.5 6.0 8.6 1.0 1.1 4401.4
1987 50.5 40.7 6.0 9.8 1.4 1.2 4647.0
1988 51.9 40.9 6.9 11.0 2.1 1.4 5014.7
1989 53.1 40.5 7.3 12.5 2.9 1.8 5405.5
1990 55.9 42.1 7.7 13.9 3.7 1.9 5735.6
1991 60.7 45.3 8.0 15.3 4.5 2.1 5930.4
1992 64.4 48.2 8.6 16.1 5.1 2.2 6218.6
1993 66.3 49.5 9.0 16.8 5.6 2.3 6558.4
1994 66.9 49.4 9.4 17.4 6.1 2.2 6944.6
1995 67.2 49.2 10.9 18.0 6.6 2.0 7324.0
1996 67.3 48.5 12.7 18.8 7.1 2.0 7694.6
1997 65.6 46.1 14.9 19.5 7.7 1.8 8185.2
1998 63.2 42.9 14.0 20.3 8.4 1.8 8673.5
1999 61.4 39.8 14.0 21.6 9.4 2.0 9130.4
2000 57.3 34.7 12.5 22.6 10.2 2.2 9824.4
2001* 54.5 30.8 23.8 11.3 2.3 10312.7
2002* 52.2 27.1 25.0 12.3 2.5 10857.8
2003* 50.0 23.8 26.2 13.4 2.7 11445.8
2004* 48.0 20.5 27.5 14.5 2.9 12059.2
2005* 46.1 17.5 28.6 15.6 3.1 12701.2
2006* 44.2 14.4 29.8 16.7 3.4 13375.7
2007* 42.3 11.4 30.9 17.4 14089.3
2008* 41.4 9.5 31.9 18.3 14834.5
2009* 41.1 8.2 32.9 19.1 15618.5
2010* 41.2 7.3 33.8 19.9 16441.0
2011* 41.4 6.7 34.7 17305.3
* estimated
Note: Gross Debt equals Public Debt plus debt held by federal government
accounts; Social Security includes Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Fund
(OAS) and Disability Insurance Fund (DI); Medicare includes Hospital
Insurance Fund (HI) and Supplementary Medical Insurance Fund (SMI);
fiscal year GDP figures from 2007 on were obtained by using calendar
figures and interpolating, using the following formula:
GDP_fiscal(y) = 0.25*GDP_calendar(y-1) + 0.75*GDP_calendar(y);
Source: Budget of the United States Government, FY 2002: Historical Tables,
tables 7.1, 10.1, 13.1; Analytical Perspectives, tables 1-1 and 12-3;
2001 Annual OASDI Trustees Report, page 131, Table VI.C3
=============================================================================
Among the points that the above tables illustrates are the following:
1) The gross federal debt as a percentage of GDP has dropped 15 percent
since 1996 but is still up 76 percent since 1981. The relative size
of the debt is more critical than that of the deficit since it is the
debt, not the deficit, that we are paying interest on and have promised
to pay back.
2) The foreign holdings of federal debt increased sharply from 1994 to 1997
and stayed fairly level since then. In that time, it has risen from 14
to 22 percent of the gross debt and from 19 to 36 percent of the public
debt.
3) Even with the surpluses in 1998 through 2000 and the projected surpluses
from 2001 to 2011, the gross debt will continue to grow. This is because
the reported deficit does not include monies borrowed from government
accounts. The following table shows the debts projected to be held by
those accounts in 2002.
================================================================================
DEBT HELD BY GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTS (billions of dollars)
Investment or disinvestment Holdings
----------------------------- end of
2000 % of 2001 2002 2002 % of
Description actual total est. est. est. total
---------------------------------- ------ ----- ------ ------ ------- -----
Old-age and survivors trust fund.. 131.3 53.3 137.1 151.4 1182.0 43.5
Civil Service retirement & disabil 31.3 12.7 31.2 31.2 574.4 21.1
Hospital insurance trust fund..... 15.1 6.1 28.3 33.7 230.9 8.5
Disability insurance trust fund... 21.0 8.5 21.7 23.1 158.5 5.8
Military retirement trust fund.... 8.1 3.3 2.6 6.2 158.2 5.8
Unemployment trust fund........... 9.0 3.7 6.5 6.7 99.5 3.7
Highway and Airport trust funds... 3.6 1.5 4.1 1.2 49.4 1.8
Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.... 1.8 0.7 0.1 0.6 43.3 1.6
Supplementary medical insurance... 18.5 7.5 -5.6 -0.2 39.3 1.4
Other government accounts......... 6.5 2.6 5.9 12.3 181.4 6.7
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total investment in Federal debt.. 246.3 100.0 231.9 266.1 2716.9 100.0
Source: Budget of the United States Government, FY 2002, Analytical
Perspectives, page 234, table 12-5
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