Business Standard

How much do people owe their countries?

Gross national debt of US and Japan is $1,899 bn and $1,000 bn, respectively

Public debt per capita, Japan, US, UK, debt

Adrija Shukla New Delhi
In addition to collecting taxes, governments borrow money to spend on investments that will boost their own economies, as well as to meet their spending obligations. In an environment of low-interest rates, it's cheap for them to do so. For a lot of developed countries, this is usually in the realm of millions or trillions of dollars, numbers that we might struggle to comprehend. For example, the gross national debt of Japan is $ 1,000 bn. The gross national debt of the United States is $1,899 bn. Here is a look at per capita debt of different countries:

Public debt per capita, Japan, US, UK, debt

Don't miss the most important news and views of the day. Get them on our Telegram channel

First Published: Dec 22 2016 | 1:03 AM IST

Explore News