US National Debt Statistics by Year and by President

US National Debt Statistics by Year and by President

Since the United States debt of the Revolutionary War was refunded, the United States would only go into debt to pay for its wars. It took until the 1930s, when President Roosevelt used federal borrowings as an attempt to bring the nation out of the Great Depression. By the 1830’s the Revolutionary War debt was paid off and it took until the Civil War for the United States to climb back up to 33% of GDP. However, the Civil War was still paid off by the turn of the 20th Century. By World War II, the percentage of GDP and the US debt climbed from 45% to 122% by 1946.

For 35 years, the debt was continually paid down until Reagan’s term where the debt increased once more 50% of the US GDP to combat the Cold War. As President Bush fought the War on Terror, new heights were reached in debt levels followed by the Great Recession of 2008. For the first time in history since World War II, the United States in 2013 has surpassed over 100% of our debt to our GDP.

Documentary of the US National Debt

The following video outlines the rends and recent contributors that have seen the United States explode into some of the highest national debt statistics since World War II.

Gross Federal Debt

As the United States only started seeing debt since the Great Depression under Roosevelt, the following listing of the gross federal debt of the United States and how much it increased under each Presidential term is listed below.

Roosevelt: +$203 billion
Roosevelt/Truman: -$8 billion
Truman: +$13 billion
Eisenhower: +$6 billion
Eisenhower: +$20 billion
Kennedy/Johnson: +$30 billion
Johnson: +$43 billion
Nixon: +$101 billion
Nixon/Ford: +$177 billion
Carter: +$288 billion
Reagan: +$823 billion
Reagan: +$1.05 trillion
Bush Sr: +$1.48 trillion
Clinton: +$1.02 trillion
Clinton: +$401 billion
Bush: $2.13 trillion
Bush: $3.97 trillion
Obama: $6.06 trillion

Causes of Huge Deficit

The four primary causes of the rising deficit are related to the following factors.

1. Reduced Tax Payments.

2. Automatic increases in unemployment insurance, food stamps, and social security.

3. Military spending increase.

4. TARP and Job Stimulus.

Who Owns the US Debt

Approximately 41% of the United States debt is held by the US government agencies themselves. Therefore, the US government inadvertently owes itself the money. An additional 40 nations across the globe owns America’s debt, totaling $5.1 trillion. The following infographic outlines the statistics and facts about US debt.