US National Debt Breaks Record – Continues to Grow Sharply

In the midst of war with Iran, the US national debt has reached a new record level – over 39 trillion dollars.

According to the US Department of the Treasury, the total gross debt as of March 20 stood at $39,002,071,364,584. This consists of around $31.3 trillion in public debt and $7.6 trillion in internal government commitments.

The growth rate is shocking to observers. It took nearly two centuries for the US to reach its first trillion dollars of debt, which happened during Ronald Reagan’s presidency in the 1980s. According to Jodey Arrington, chairman of the House Budget Committee, now an additional trillion is being added in just a few months.

In an interview with Fortune magazine, the Republican warned that the debt constitutes an “existential threat to the nation’s future,” and that every American child today carries a debt burden of $530,000.

Find more statistics at Statista

Besides the debt amount, interest costs are also rising dramatically. In fiscal year 2025, the US government paid $1.22 trillion in interest — more than the entire defense budget and three times what it was when Biden took office.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that interest payments could rise to $2.1 trillion per year by 2036.

Fox Business reports that the national debt as a share of GDP is expected to rise from about 100 percent this year to 108 percent by 2030, and further to 120 percent by 2036 — surpassing the record level of 106 percent from 1946, when the US ended World War II.