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[[File:US Federal Debt Held By Public as of Feb. 2023.png|thumb|upright=1.2|The amount of U.S. public debt, measured as a percentage of GDP, held by the public since 1900]]
Historically, the U.S. public debt as a share of [[gross domestic product]] (GDP) increases during wars and [[recession]]s and then subsequently declines. The [[Debt-to-GDP ratio|ratio of debt to GDP]] may decrease as a result of a government surplus or via [[Economic growth|growth of GDP]] and [[inflation]]. The [[Congressional Budget Office]] (CBO) estimated in February
Total US federal government debt breached $30 trillion mark for the first time in history in February 2022.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Rappeport |first=Alan |date=2022-02-01 |title=U.S. National Debt Tops $30 Trillion as Borrowing Surged Amid Pandemic |language=en-US |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/01/us/politics/national-debt-30-trillion.html |access-date=2022-02-02 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> As of December 2023, total federal debt was $33.1 trillion; $26.5 trillion held by the public and $12.1 trillion in intragovernmental debt.<ref>{{cite web |title=Debt to the Penny |url=https://fiscaldata.treasury.gov/americas-finance-guide/national-debt/#breaking-down-the-debt |access-date=December 4, 2023 |website=fiscaldata.treasury.gov |publisher=[[United States Department of the Treasury]]}}</ref> The annualized cost of servicing this debt was $726 billion in July 2023, which accounted for 14% of the total federal spending.<ref>{{cite web |title=What is the national debt? |url=https://fiscaldata.treasury.gov/americas-finance-guide/national-debt/ |access-date=August 18, 2023 |website=fiscaldata.treasury.gov |publisher=[[United States Department of the Treasury]]}}</ref> In December 2021, debt held by the public was estimated at 96.19% of GDP, and approximately 33% of this public debt was owned by foreigners (government and private).<ref name="Treasury-MFH">{{cite web |author=<!--Not stated--> |title=Foreign Holdings of Federal Debt |url=https://sgp.fas.org/crs/misc/RS22331.pdf |access-date=August 29, 2022 |publisher=Congressional Research Service |via=[[Federation of American Scientists]]}}</ref> The United States has the largest [[List of countries by external debt|external debt in the world]]. The total number of U.S. Treasury securities held by foreign entities in December 2021 was $7.7 trillion, up from $7.1 trillion in December 2020.<ref name="bloomberg_Randall_20181016">{{Cite web |date=May 25, 2022 |title=Foreign Holdings of Federal Debt |url=https://sgp.fas.org/crs/misc/RS22331.pdf |access-date=September 29, 2022 |publisher=Congressional Budget Office}}</ref>
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