Countries Holding America's Debt

12 Unexpected Countries Holding America’s IOUs

While every American understands the devastating impact of the current national debt crisis, the details of who the United States owes money to and why it matters may not be so clear.

Owing a country in terms of national debt happens when a nation issues government bonds to raise funds, and both foreign countries and domestic investors purchase these bonds. This makes the issuing nation indebted to these bondholders, which can include other nations. The cumulative amount owed to creditors, both domestic and foreign through these bonds is what constitutes the national debt.

Japan, alone, is a high-stakes creditor, currently holding over $1 trillion of America’s debt.

The debtor country, in this case, the United States, must make periodic interest payments to bondholders and repay the principal when the bonds mature. Currently, with a national debt nearing $33 trillion, the annual interest payments alone are a staggering $475 billion. If the current spending trends are not curbed, these interest payments are projected to triple, reaching a concerning $1.4 trillion by 2032.

The recent spending spree and reckless mismanagement of the national debt under President Joe Biden’s administration raises legitimate concerns about the nation’s fiscal direction and the challenges it poses both now, and in the future.

In 2021 the U.S. gave more than $3.3 billion to Israel, 11% of the year’s entire distribution to specific countries. That year, Israel received more than twice the amount seen by any other country, and nearly all of it was designated as military aid. Ranked by total aid received in 2021, Israel was followed by Jordan ($1.6 billion), Afghanistan ($1.40 billion), Ethiopia ($1.39 billion) and Egypt ($1.29 billion) [USNews}

Read about the countries to whom we owe trillions