In 2023, the gross federal debt in the United States amounted to around ****** U.S. dollars per capita. This is a moderate increase from the previous year, when the per capita national debt amounted to about ****** U.S. dollars. The total debt accrued by the U.S. annually can be accessed here. Federal debt of the United States The level of national debt held by the United States government has risen sharply in the years following the Great Recession. Federal debt is the amount of debt the federal government owes to creditors who hold assets in the form of debt securities. As with individuals and consumers, there is a common consensus among economists that holding debt is not necessarily problematic for government so long as the public debt is held at a sustainable level. Although there is no agreed upon ratio of debt to gross domestic product, the increasing debt held by the Federal Reserve has become a major part of the political discourse in the United States. Politics and the national debt In recent years, debate over the debt ceiling has been of concern to domestic politicians, the owners of federal debt, and global economy as a whole. The debt ceiling is a legislated maximum amount that national debt can reach intended to impose a degree of fiscal prudence on incumbent governments. However, as national debt has grown the debt ceiling has been reached, thus forcing legislative action by Congress. In both 2011 and 2013, new legislation was passed by Congress allowing the debt ceiling to be raised. The Budget Control Act of 2011 and the No Budget, No Pay Act of 2013 successively allowed the government to avoid defaulting on national debt and therefore avert a potential economic crisis.

During the Great Recession of 2008-2009, the advanced economies of the G7 experienced a period of acute financial crises, downturns in the non-financial economy, and political instability. The governments of these countries in many cases stepped in to backstop their financial sectors and to try to stimulate their economies. The scale of these interventions was large by historical standards, with observers making comparisons to the measures of the New Deal which the U.S. undertook in the 1930s to end the Great Depression.

The bailouts of financial institutions and stimulus packages caused the government debt ratios of the United States, United Kingdom, and Japan in particular to rise sharply. The UK's government debt ratio almost doubled due to the bailouts of Northern Rock and Royal Bank of Scotland. On the other hand, the increases in government debt in the Eurozone were more measured, due to the comparative absence of stimulus spending in these countries. They would later be hit hard during the Eurozone crisis of the 2010s, when bank lending to the periphery of the Eurozone (Portugal, Spain, Ireland and Greece in particular) would trigger a sovereign debt crisis. The Canadian government, led by a Conservative premier, engaged in some fiscal stimulus to support its economy, but these packages were small in comparison to that in most other of the G7 countries.

In October 2024, the public debt of the United States was around 35.46 trillion U.S. dollars, a slight decrease from the previous month. The U.S. public debt ceiling has become one of the most prominent political issues in the States in recent years, with debate over how to handle it causing political turmoil between Democrats and Republicans. The public debt The public debt of the United States has risen quickly since 2000, and in 2022 was more than five times higher than in 2000. The public debt is the total outstanding debt that is owed by the federal government. This figure comprises debt owed to the public (for example, through bonds) and intergovernmental debt (debt owed to various governmental departments), such as Social Security. Debt in Politics The debt issue has become a highly contentious topic within the U.S. government. Measures such as stimulus packages, social programs and tax cuts add to the public debt. Additionally, spending tends to peak during large global events, such as the Great Depression, the 2008 financial crisis, or the COVID-19 pandemic - all of which had a detrimental impact on the U.S. economy. Although both major political parties in the U.S. tend to blame one another for increases in the country's debt, a recent analysis found that both parties have contributed almost equally to national expenditure. Debate on raising the debt ceiling, or the amount of debt the federal government is allowed to have at any one time, was a leading topic in the government shutdown in October 2013. Despite plans from both Democrats and Republicans on how to lower the national debt, it is only expected to increase over the next decade.

This statistic shows the national debt of Greece from 2020 to 2023, with projections until 2030. In 2023, the national debt in Greece was around 420.4 billion U.S. dollars. In a ranking of debt to GDP per country, Greece is currently ranked third. Greece's struggle after the financial crisis Greece is a developed country in the EU and is highly dependent on its service sector as well as its tourism sector in order to gain profits. After going through a large economic boom from the 1950s to the 1970s as well as somewhat high GDP growth in the early to mid 2000s, Greece’s economy took a turn for the worse and struggled intensively, primarily due to the Great Recession, the Euro crisis as well as its own debt crisis. National debt within the country saw significant gains over the past decades, however roughly came to a halt due to financial rescue packages issued from the European Union in order to help Greece maintain and improve their economical situation. The nation’s continuous rise in debt has overwhelmed its estimated GDP over the years, which can be attributed to poor government execution and unnecessary spending. Large sums of financial aid were taken from major European banks to help balance out these government-induced failures and to potentially help refuel the economy to encourage more spending, which in turn would decrease the country’s continuously rising unemployment rate. Investors, consumers and workers alike are struggling to see a bright future in Greece, whose chances of an economic comeback are much lower than that of other struggling countries such as Portugal and Italy. However, Greece's financial situation might improve in the future, as it is estimated that at least its national debt will decrease - slowly, but steadily. Still, since its future participation in the European Union is in limbo as of now, these figures can only be estimates, not predictions.

Adding to national debt is an inevitable fact of being President of the United States. The extent to which debt rises under any sitting president depends not only on the policy and spending choices they have made, but also the choices made by presidents and congresses that have come before them. Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush President Ronald Reagan increased the U.S. debt by around **** trillion U.S. dollars, or ****** percent. This is often attributed to "Reaganomics," in which Reagan implemented significant supply-side economic policies in which he reduced government regulation, cut taxes, and tightened the money supply. Spending increased under President George W. Bush in light of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. To finance the wars, President Bush chose to borrow the money, rather than use war bonds or increase taxes, unlike previous war-time presidents. Additionally, Bush introduced a number of tax cuts, and oversaw the beginning of the 2008 financial crisis. Barack Obama President Obama inherited both wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the financial crisis. The Obama administration also did not increase taxes to pay for the wars, and additionally passed expensive legislation to kickstart the economy following the economic crash, as well as the Affordable Care Act in 2010. The ACA expanded healthcare coverage to cover more than ** million more Americans through programs like Medicare and Medicaid. Though controversial at the time, more than half of Americans have a favorable view of the ACA in 2023. Additionally, he signed legislation making the W. Bush-era tax cuts permanent.

The database used includes annual frequency data for 43 countries, defined by the IMF as 24 advanced countries and 19 emerging countries, for the years 1992-2018.The database contains the fiscal stress variable and a set of variables that can be classified as follows: macroeconomic and global economy (interest rates in the US, OECD; real GDP in the US, y-o-y, OECD; real GDP in China, y-o-y, World Bank; oil price, y-o-y, BP p.l.c.; VIX, CBOE; real GDP, y-o-y, World Bank, OECD, IMF WEO; GDP per capita in PPS, World Bank); financial (nominal USD exchange rate, y-o-y, IMF IFS; private credit to GDP, change in p.p., IMF IFS, World Bank and OECD); fiscal (general government balance, % GDP, IMF WEO; general government debt, % GDP, IMF WEO, effective interest rate on the g.g. debt, IMF WEO); competitiveness and domestic demand (currency overvaluation, IMF WEO; current account balance, % GDP, IMF WEO; share in global exports, y-o-y, World Bank, OECD; gross fixed capital formation, y-o-y, World Bank, OECD; CPI, IMF IFS, IMF WEO; real consumption, y-o-y, World Bank, OECD); labor market (unemployment rate, change in p.p., IMF WEO; labor productivity, y-o-y, ILO).In line with the convention adopted in the literature, the fiscal stress variable is a binary variable equal to 1 in the case of a fiscal stress event and 0 otherwise. In more recent literature in this field, the dependent variable tends to be defined broadly, reflecting not only outright default or debt restructuring, but also less extreme events. Therefore, following Baldacci et al. (2011), the definition used in the present database is broad, and the focus is on signalling fiscal stress events, in contrast to the narrower event of a fiscal crisis related to outright default or debt restructuring. Fiscal problems can take many forms; in particular, some of the outright defaults can be avoided through timely, targeted responses, like support programs of international institutions. The fiscal stress variable is shifted with regard to the other variables: crisis_next_year – binary variable shifted by 1 year, all years of a fiscal stress coded as 1; crisis_next_period – binary variable shifted by 2 years, all years of a fiscal stress coded as 1; crisis_first_year1 – binary variable shifted by 1 year, only the first year of a fiscal stress coded as 1; crisis_first_year2 - binary variable shifted by 2 years, only the first year of a fiscal stress coded as 1.

The U.S. commercial real estate sector had more favorable debt service coverage ratios before the COVID-19 outbreak than before the global financial crisis. In 2019, the debt service coverage ratio of the homebuilders' sector equaled to 6.3, while it was -5.3 at the end of 2007. The debt service coverage ratio of the residential sector was eight in 2019, up from 2.6 in 2007.

Public sector net debt amounted to 95.8 percent of gross domestic product in the United Kingdom during the 2024/25 financial year, or 90 percent when the Bank of England is excluded. UK government debt is at its highest levels since the early 1960s, due to a significant increase in borrowing during the COVID-19 pandemic. After peaking at 251.7 percent shortly after the end of the Second World War, government debt in the UK gradually fell, before a sharp increase in the late 2000s at the time of the global financial crisis. Debt not expected to start falling until 2029/30 In 2024/25, the UK's government expenditure was approximately 1.28 trillion pounds, around 44.7 percent of GDP. This spending was financed by 1.13 trillion pounds of revenue raised, and 151 billion pounds of borrowing. Although the UK government can still borrow money in the future to finance its spending, the amount spent on debt interest has increased significantly recently. Recent forecasts suggest that while the debt is eventually expected to start declining, this is based on falling government deficits in the next five years. Government facing hard choices Hitting fiscal targets, such as reducing the national debt, will require a careful balancing of the books from the current government, and the possibility for either spending cuts or tax rises. Although Labour ruled out raising the main government tax sources, Income Tax, National Insurance, and VAT, at the 2024 election, they did raise National Insurance for employers (rather than employees) and also cut Winter Fuel allowances for large numbers of pensioners. Less than a year after implementing cuts to Winter Fuel, the government performed a U-Turn on the issue, and will make it widely available by the winter of 2025.

The unemployment rate in fiscal year 2204 rose to 3.9 percent. The unemployment rate of the United States which has been steadily decreasing since the 2008 financial crisis, spiked to 8.1 percent in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The annual unemployment rate of the U.S. since 1990 can be found here. Falling unemployment The unemployment rate, or the part of the U.S. labor force that is without a job, fell again in 2022 after peaking at 8.1 percent in 2020 - a rate that has not been seen since the years following the 2008 financial crisis. The financial crash caused unemployment in the U.S. to soar from 4.6 percent in 2007 to 9.6 percent in 2010. Since 2010, the unemployment rate had been steadily falling, meaning that more and more people are finding work, whether that be through full-time employment or part-time employment. However, the affects of the COVID-19 pandemic created a spike in unemployment across the country. U.S. unemployment in comparison Compared to unemployment rates in the European Union, U.S. unemployment is relatively low. Greece was hit particularly hard by the 2008 financial crisis and faced a government debt crisis that sent the Greek economy into a tailspin. Due to this crisis, and the added impact of the pandemic, Greece still has the highest unemployment rate in the European Union.

The graph shows national debt in China related to gross domestic product until 2024, with forecasts to 2030. In 2024, gross national debt ranged at around 88 percent of the national gross domestic product. The debt-to-GDP ratio In economics, the ratio between a country's government debt and its gross domestic product (GDP) is generally defined as the debt-to-GDP ratio. It is a useful indicator for investors to measure a country's ability to fulfill future payments on its debts. A low debt-to-GDP ratio also suggests that an economy produces and sells a sufficient amount of goods and services to pay back those debts. Among the important industrial and emerging countries, Japan displayed one of the highest debt-to-GDP ratios. In 2024, the estimated national debt of Japan amounted to about 250 percent of its GDP, up from around 180 percent in 2004. One reason behind Japan's high debt load lies in its low annual GDP growth rate. Development in China China's national debt related to GDP grew slowly but steadily from around 23 percent in 2000 to 34 percent in 2012, only disrupted by the global financial crisis in 2008. In recent years, China increased credit financing to spur economic growth, resulting in higher levels of debt. China's real estate crisis and a difficult global economic environment require further stimulating measures by the government and will predictably lead to even higher debt growth in the years ahead.

The Crisis Monitor has been conducted regularly by the opinion research institute forsa on behalf of the Press and Information Office of the Federal Government since calendar week 1/2023. The Crisis Monitor is the continuation of the representative population surveys conducted regularly by forsa from calendar week 13/2022 to 50/2022 on the topic of Germany and the war in Ukraine. The individual question areas were adjusted depending on the survey period. In the survey period from 11.12.2023 to 13.12.2023, the German-speaking resident population aged 14 and over was surveyed in telephone interviews (CATI). Respondents were selected using a multi-stage random sample.
Level of personal stress caused by the current situation surrounding the current crises in Germany; developments in Germany that personally cause the most concern; opinion on the level of controversy on important political issues (there is too much, too little or just the right amount of controversy); concerns about a deterioration in one´s own financial situation or budget in connection with discussions about the federal budget; areas in which one specifically fears a deterioration in one´s own financial situation as a result of the tense budget situation (open); concerns beyond this (that necessary (open); worries about a deterioration in their own financial situation or the budget in connection with discussions about the federal budget; areas in which they specifically fear a deterioration in their own financial situation due to the tight budget situation (open); worries beyond this (that necessary expenditure for the future viability of Germany will not be made, cuts in social spending, tax increases, national debt, increasing disenchantment with politics, break-up of the governing coalition and no stable majorities in the Bundestag); recently restricted consumer and shopping behavior; areas of everyday life with financial restrictions.

Demography: sex; age (grouped); employment; education; party preference in the next federal election; voting behavior in the last federal election; income situation low, medium, high, residual (net equivalent income).

Additionally coded were: West/East region; federal state; weighting factor.

The Eurobarometer series is a unique cross-national and cross-temporal survey program conducted on behalf of the European Commission. These surveys regularly monitor public opinion in the European Union (EU) member countries and consist of standard modules and special topic modules. The standard modules address attitudes towards European unification, institutions and policies, measurements for general socio-political orientations, as well as respondent and household demographics. The special topic modules address such topics as agriculture, education, natural environment and resources, public health, public safety and crime, and science and technology. This round of Eurobarometer surveys includes the standard modules and covers the following special topics: (1) the financial and economic crisis, (2) the future of the European Union, (3) globalization, and (4) European citizenship. Questions pertain to household financial situation, opinions on performance of the EU economy, reformation of the financial system, national currency and the Euro, public debt, the EU exiting present crisis and preparing for the next decade, and attitudes towards globalization. Other questions address country identification, opinions of European citizenship, the EU achievements for citizens, representation and democracy, the European Citizens' Initiative, and participation of citizens in society. Demographic and other background information collected includes age, gender, nationality, origin of birth (personal and parental), marital status, age when stopped full-time education, occupation, left-right political self-placement, household composition, ownership of a fixed or mobile telephone, difficulties in paying bills, level in society, and Internet use. In addition, country-specific data includes type and size of locality, region of residence, and language of interview (select countries).

The German Internet Panel (GIP) is an infrastructure project. The GIP serves to collect data about individual attitudes and preferences which are relevant for political and economic decision-making processes.

Experimental variations were used in the instruments. The questionnaire contains numerous randomisations as well as a cross-questionnaire experiment.

Topics: Party preference (Sunday question); assessment of the importance of selected policy fields for the federal government (labour market, foreign policy, education and research, citizen participation, energy supply, food and agriculture, European unification, family, health care system, gender equality, internal security, personal rights, pension system, national debt, tax system, environment and climate protection, consumer protection, transport, defence, currency, economy, immigration and integration); currently most important policy areas for the respondent; satisfaction with the performance of the federal government (scalometer); satisfaction with the performance of the parties CDU/CSU, SPD, Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, Die Linke (scalometer); probability of an external event: Effects of the Ukraine crisis on the availability and price of Russian gas in Germany; Federal government should draw consequences from the Ukraine crisis and find alternatives to the purchase of Russian gas; assessment of political decisions of the Federal government on the introduction of a rent brake and a car toll, on the expansion of the digital infrastructure as well as on the re-regulation of prostitution; respective responsibility for the fact that corresponding laws have not yet been passed; expected change in unemployment due to the introduction of the minimum wage respectively in Eastern Germany, Western Germany and in Germany as a whole; opinion on the introduction of a statutory minimum wage; assessment of an alternative proposal to the minimum wage (state pays the difference between the real hourly wage and a gross wage of 8.50 euros); opinion on lowering the minimum wage in regions with high unemployment instead of the same minimum wage throughout Germany; self-assessment of patience and willingness to take risks (scalometer); preferred date for the debt brake (from 2015, from 2020, from 2025, after 2030 or not at all); assessment of the debt brake; assessment of the probability that one´s own federal state will manage without new debt from 2020; one´s own federal state should comply with the debt brake if not all 16 federal states manage without new debt from 2020; net household income resp. personal income; own willingness to pay an additional tax amount so that the own federal state can get along without new debts from 2020 onwards and the amount of this contribution (answer scale depending on household income and personal income); debts of cities and municipalities: Willingness to pay additional fees so that the municipality of residence can manage without new debts and the amount of this contribution (classified); willingness to agree to the merger of one´s own federal state with a neighbouring federal state; opinion on self-determination of the tax level by the federal states; opinion on the financing of infrastructure costs in poor regions via a common EU budget; opinion on EU loans within the framework of the euro bailout fund for heavily indebted member states; opinion on the fiscal equalisation system between the federal states; whether one´s own federal state belongs to the donor states or the recipient states; opinion on a law on the formation of reserves by the federal states for the pensions of state civil servants; demand for state measures to reduce income disparities; acceptance of tax evasion; inflation in Germany: Assessment of the price development for food and clothing in general and measured against the expectations of the European Central Bank (ECB) (inflation expectations); expected annual inflation rate in five and in ten years (medium-term and long-term inflation); assessment of the European Central Bank with regard to price stability in the Eurozone; preferred combination of the amount of monthly expenditure and the amount of a loan repayment; reception frequency of news in general and of news on the topic of economy.

Demography: sex; citizenship; year of birth (categorised); highest school-leaving qualification; highest professional qualification; marital status; household size; employment status; private internet use; federal state.

Additiona...

The long-term interest rate on government debt is a key indicator of the economic health of a country. The rate reflects financial market actors' perceptions of the creditworthiness of the government and the health of the domestic economy, with a strong and robust economic outlook allowing governments to borrow for essential investments in their economies, thereby boosting long-term growth.

The Euro and converging interest rates in the early 2000s

In the case of many Eurozone countries, the early 2000s were a time where this virtuous cycle of economic growth reduced the interest rates they paid on government debt to less than 5 percent, a dramatic change from the pre-Euro era of the 1990s. With the outbreak of the Global Financial Crisis and the subsequent deep recession, however, the economies of Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Ireland were seen to be much weaker than previously assumed by lenders. Interest rates on their debt gradually began to rise during the crisis, before rapidly increasing beginning in 2010, as first Greece and then Ireland and Portugal lost the faith of financial markets.

The Eurozone crisis

This market adjustment was initially triggered due to revelations by the Greek government that the country's budget deficit was much larger than had been previously expected, with investors seeing the country as an unreliable debtor. The crisis, which became known as the Eurozone crisis, spread to Ireland and then Portugal, as lenders cut-off lending to highly indebted Eurozone members with weak fundamentals. During this period there was also intense speculation that due to unsustainable debt loads, some countries would have to leave the Euro currency area, further increasing the interest on their debt. Interest rates on their debt began to come back down after ECB Chief Mario Draghi signaled to markets that the central bank would intervene to keep the states within the currency area in his famous "whatever it takes" speech in Summer 2012.

The return of higher interest rates in the post-COVID era

Since this period of extremely high interest rates on government debt for these member states, the interest they are charged for borrowing has shrunk considerably, as the financial markets were flooded with "cheap money" due to the policy measures of central banks in the aftermath of the financial crisis, such as near-zero policy rates and quantitative easing. As interest rates have risen to combat inflation since 2022, so have the interest rates on government debt in the Eurozone also risen, however, these rises are modest compared to during the Eurozone crisis.

The statistic shows the national debt of Japan from 2020 to 2023, with projections up until 2030. The amount of Japan's national debt in 2023 amounted to about 9.91 trillion U.S. dollar. In a ranking of debt to GDP per country, Japan is thus currently ranked first. Japan's economic power With one of the largest gross domestic products (GDP), Japan is among the largest economies in the world. However, ever since the global financial crisis, Japan's GDP - like many others - has been slightly unstable; Japan even reported a negative GDP growth in comparison to the previous year in 2011 and in 2014. Still, it is estimated that gross domestic product in Japan will continue to thrive over the next decade. One indicator is Japan's inflation rate: Despite the aforementioned economic slumps, Japan has managed to maintain one of the lowest inflation rates in the world, and it also reduced its unemployment rate. Between 2010 and 2013, the unemployment rate in Japan decreased by approximately one percent, and it is expected to drop even lower over the next years. Recently, Japan has been reporting a trade deficit, meaning the value of its imports exceeds the value of its exports. Most of these imports have come from China and the United States. The trade deficit is one of the causes for in an increase of the national debt. It is estimated that the national debt in relation to the GDP will increase further until 2020.

The statistic shows Japan's national debt from 2020 to 2023 in relation to gross domestic product (GDP), with projections up until 2030. In 2023, the national debt of Japan amounted to about 239.97 percent of the gross domestic product. An eye on Japan’s national debt Japan’s national debt ranks first among countries with the highest debt levels in the world, far surpassing the debt levels of Greece - which ranks number two - whose financial crisis has been in the spotlight recently. Italy is third, followed by Jamaica, Lebanon and Enritrea. Currently, Japan’s national debt amounts more than a thousand trillion yen and the country’s debt is predicted to keep rising for the foreseeable future, albeit only slightly. Japan’s national debt is not without consequence for the global economy, because the country claims the fourth-largest share in global gross domestic product. Therefore, the effects on the global economy would and could have a much greater global impact than that of a country such as Greece - considering its share of the global economy adjusted for purchase power parity was less than 0.29 percent in 2011. The debt levels of China, the United States and India should also be watched closely as they together make up the largest share of global GDP. At the moment, Japan’s inflation rate is among the lowest in the world, but as Japan attempts to reduce its national debt, this could change.

Several European Union member states have struggled with high levels of public debt in the period since the Global Financial Crisis. In particular, Greece's debt skyrocketed during the recession which followed the crisis, culminating in a period of intense political and social upheaval during the early 2010s in which the country came close to having to leave the Euro single currency zone. Along with Italy, Portugal, Spain and France, Greece is part of a group of EU members who have seen their debt soar to a value worth over one year's aggregate production in their economies (i.e. 100% of GDP) due to slow economic growth coupled with increasing public liabilities due to the need to provide emergency support to their domestic financial systems. Belgium, while also a part of this group of high-debt ratio countries has quite different circumstances, as its debt ratio has in fact fallen since the 1990s, remaining 20 percent below its 1995 level, even after a spike due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Government debt as a share of gross domestic product has risen for almost all of Europe's largest economies since the mid-20th century. While until the 1970s it was common for European countries to have debt levels of less than 20 percent of their GDP, with the onset of economic crises related to international financial instability and oil price shocks, the long-term slowdown of economic growth in Europe, and the substantial public spending burdens which states had incurred due to the expansion of welfare and social services, European governments began to amass significant amounts of debt.

Which European countries are the most indebted? Italy stands out as the country in Europe which has experienced the largest secular increase in its government debt level, with the southern European country having debt worth 1.4 times its GDP in 2022. Spain, the United Kingdom, and France have also experienced long-run increase in their debt levels to between 90 and 100 percent in 2022. Germany and Turkey, on the other hand, have experienced more gradual increases in their public debt, with both countries having debt worth less than half their GDP. Russia stands as an outlier, due to the fact that its debt level has fallen dramatically since the 1990s. After the eastern European country's transition from communism and particularly after the financial crisis it experienced in 1998, the Russian state has severely cut back on public expenditure, while also having little need to borrow due to the state ownership of the country's vast natural resources.

The Federal Reserve's balance sheet has undergone significant changes since 2007, reflecting its response to major economic crises. From a modest *** trillion U.S. dollars at the end of 2007, it ballooned to approximately **** trillion U.S. dollars by June 2025. This dramatic expansion, particularly during the 2008 financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic - both of which resulted in negative annual GDP growth in the U.S. - showcases the Fed's crucial role in stabilizing the economy through expansionary monetary policies. Impact on inflation and interest rates The Fed's expansionary measures, while aimed at stimulating economic growth, have had notable effects on inflation and interest rates. Following the quantitative easing in 2020, inflation in the United States reached ***** percent in 2022, the highest since 1991. However, by *************, inflation had declined to *** percent. Concurrently, the Federal Reserve implemented a series of interest rate hikes, with the rate peaking at **** percent in ***********, before the first rate cut since ************** occurred in **************. Financial implications for the Federal Reserve The expansion of the Fed's balance sheet and subsequent interest rate hikes have had significant financial implications. In 2023, the Fed reported a negative net income of ***** billion U.S. dollars, a stark contrast to the ***** billion U.S. dollars profit in 2022. This unprecedented shift was primarily due to rapidly rising interest rates, which caused the Fed's interest expenses to soar to over *** billion U.S. dollars in 2023. Despite this, the Fed's net interest income on securities acquired through open market operations reached a record high of ****** billion U.S. dollars in the same year.

The average level of government debt to GDP ratios in the European Union and the Euro currency area increased rapidly following the Global Financial Crisis of 2007-2008 and subsequent recession, peaking in the Eurozone at 93.2 percent of GDP. This figure was exceeded once more in 2020 due to increased borrowing due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with the Eurozone average now being over 90% of yearly production. The debt to GDP ratio measures the stock of government debt which is yet to be paid off in relation to the Gross Domestic Product of a country or region, which is the monetary value of goods and services produced and sold in a year. This ratio gives a clearer picture of debt sustainability than by looking at the absolute value of debt, as a country with a large economy may be able to easily pay off debts which seem large in absolute terms, but are in fact small in comparison to GDP.