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US National Debt As Percent Of GDP
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Hover mouse over dropdown controls for help. Remember, you can display a maximum of five
data series at once.
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| Spending Units: By default, government spending is displayed in billions of dollars. But using a dropdown control in the table heading you can select billions of 2005 dollars, percent of GDP, 2005 dollars per capita, percent of federal spending, or percent of total spending. Chart Title: You can create a title for your chart. Use the text field to enter a title and click the button to the right of the text field. US or State: By default, the chart shows overall United States government spending. But you can select spending for individual states by selecting the state dropdown control in the table heading. State, Local: By default, you can chart state spending or local spending by clicking a radio button in the selection table. But you can chart state-and-local combined by selecting state n local in the state/local dropdown control in the table heading. |
View: There are many ways to view the spending data. The default view is functional. There is a census view that conforms with the spending categories used by the US Census Bureau in its Statistical Abstract. There is a COFOG view that categorizes spending using the UN methodology. Linear/Log: By default, the data series are displayed as linear charts. But you can also select a log chart. Linear charts show constant amount changes as a straight line; Log charts show constant rates of change as a straight line. Line/Bar: By default, the data series are displayed as line charts. But you can also select a bar chart. Data Stack: By default, the data series are “stacked” when displayed on the chart. But you can change the setting to “un stack” the data series. Chart Size: By default, the chart is displayed at medium size. But you can use the dropdown control to change the size. Color: By default charts are displayed with color data lines and fill. You can change this to grayscale if you want. US Budget Year: By default, the chart displays budgeted and estimated federal spending in the current US Budget submitted to the Congress by the president. But you can look at previous budgeted numbers using this dropdown control. |
Data Range Start Year: You can select any start year you want using the dropdown control in the table heading. At the top and bottom of the dropdown only years ending in “0” are shown. Select a start year to get close, then select the start year you want. End Year: You can select any end year you want using the dropdown control in the table heading. At the top and bottom of the dropdown only years ending in “0” are shown. Select an end year to get close, then select the end year you want. |
| Category (max 5) | Sub-category | Fed | Gov. Xfer | State | Local | Total | |
| Data Series: Select a spending series you want to chart from a dropdown on the left. If you select on the bottom dropdown you will add a data series (up to a maximum of five). The right-hand dropdown allows you to replace a data series with a more narrowly focused series. Click the “X” link to remove a data series from the chart. | X | ||||||
| All Categories | |||||||
If you’d like to create your own custom chart of spending data you should use the table above to make your selections.
- Select the year range: Select the start year and the end year you want by selecting the years you want in the two year dropdown boxes.
- Select spending items: Just select the spending item you want from the dropdown control. Then click a radio button to select the level of government: federal, state, or local. If you select from the < select > you will add another data series to your chart. Up to 5 data series are allowed at once. Click the “X” link to remove a data series from the chart.
- Select units: You can select the display in billions of nominal (i.e. inflated) dollars, billions of real (i.e. year 2005) dollars, or as percent of GDP.
- Choose chart features: You can select the size of the chart, switch from bar chart to line chart, select color or black and white, stacked or not. You can also blow up the chart to fill the screen with the “fullsize” tab control above the chart display.
Download Data
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Download Data File
Click button to download CSV file of dataset in chart.
Download Tab-delimited Data
Copy and Paste: To copy and paste data into spreadsheet for analysis, just copy the tab-delimited text in the textbox below (click cursor in text box, then press ctrl-A then press ctrl-C) and paste it into your spreadsheet.
View Data Series
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Below is a formatted version of the data displayed in the chart.
| Year | GDP-US $ billion nominal | Population-US million | Gross Public Debt -fed percent GDP | |
| 1792 | MW gdp | 4.173 | 34.63 | a |
| 1793 | MW gdp | 4.300 | 32.27 | a |
| 1794 | MW gdp | 4.432 | 25.14 | a |
| 1795 | MW gdp | 4.567 | 21.25 | a |
| 1796 | MW gdp | 4.707 | 20.28 | a |
| 1797 | MW gdp | 4.850 | 20.26 | a |
| 1798 | MW gdp | 4.998 | 19.37 | a |
| 1799 | MW gdp | 5.151 | 17.94 | a |
| 1800 | MW gdp | 5.308 | 17.43 | a |
| 1801 | MW gdp | 5.476 | 16.31 | a |
| 1802 | MW gdp | 5.648 | 18.10 | a |
| 1803 | MW gdp | 5.826 | 15.99 | a |
| 1804 | MW gdp | 6.010 | 16.40 | a |
| 1805 | MW gdp | 6.199 | 14.80 | a |
| 1806 | MW gdp | 6.395 | 12.39 | a |
| 1807 | MW gdp | 6.596 | 11.87 | a |
| 1808 | MW gdp | 6.804 | 10.19 | a |
| 1809 | MW gdp | 7.019 | 8.39 | a |
| 1810 | MW gdp | 7.240 | 7.61 | a |
| 1811 | MW gdp | 7.450 | 6.32 | a |
| 1812 | MW gdp | 7.666 | 5.80 | a |
| 1813 | MW gdp | 7.889 | 5.83 | a |
| 1814 | MW gdp | 8.118 | 7.63 | a |
| 1815 | MW gdp | 8.354 | 10.90 | a |
| 1816 | MW gdp | 8.596 | 15.70 | a |
| 1817 | MW gdp | 8.846 | 16.23 | a |
| 1818 | MW gdp | 9.102 | 14.17 | a |
| 1819 | MW gdp | 9.367 | 13.27 | a |
| 1820 | MW gdp | 9.638 | 12.95 | a |
| 1821 | MW gdp | 9.921 | 12.36 | a |
| 1822 | MW gdp | 10.212 | 11.72 | a |
| 1823 | MW gdp | 10.511 | 12.09 | a |
| 1824 | MW gdp | 10.819 | 12.08 | a |
| 1825 | MW gdp | 11.136 | 10.29 | a |
| 1826 | MW gdp | 11.462 | 9.45 | a |
| 1827 | MW gdp | 11.798 | 8.16 | a |
| 1828 | MW gdp | 12.144 | 7.60 | a |
| 1829 | MW gdp | 12.500 | 6.34 | a |
| 1830 | MW gdp | 12.866 | 4.80 | a |
| 1831 | MW gdp | 13.235 | 3.75 | a |
| 1832 | MW gdp | 13.614 | 2.18 | a |
| 1833 | MW gdp | 14.005 | 0.61 | a |
| 1834 | MW gdp | 14.406 | 0.39 | a |
| 1835 | MW gdp | 14.819 | 0.00 | a |
| 1836 | MW gdp | 15.244 | 0.00 | a |
| 1837 | MW gdp | 15.682 | 0.02 | a |
| 1838 | MW gdp | 16.131 | 0.21 | a |
| 1839 | MW gdp | 16.594 | 0.63 | a |
| 1840 | MW gdp | 17.070 | 0.23 | a |
| 1841 | MW gdp | 17.601 | 0.32 | a |
| 1842 | MW gdp | 18.149 | 0.85 | a |
| 1843 | MW gdp | 18.714 | 2.11 | a |
| 1844 | MW gdp | 19.296 | 1.39 | a |
| 1845 | MW gdp | 19.897 | 0.86 | a |
| 1846 | MW gdp | 20.516 | 0.76 | a |
| 1847 | MW gdp | 21.154 | 1.63 | a |
| 1848 | MW gdp | 21.813 | 1.96 | a |
| 1849 | MW gdp | 22.492 | 2.63 | a |
| 1850 | MW gdp | 23.192 | 2.48 | a |
| 1851 | MW gdp | 23.909 | 2.53 | a |
| 1852 | MW gdp | 24.648 | 2.18 | a |
| 1853 | MW gdp | 25.409 | 1.82 | a |
| 1854 | MW gdp | 26.195 | 1.15 | a |
| 1855 | MW gdp | 27.004 | 0.90 | a |
| 1856 | MW gdp | 27.839 | 0.80 | a |
| 1857 | MW gdp | 28.699 | 0.69 | a |
| 1858 | MW gdp | 29.586 | 1.11 | a |
| 1859 | MW gdp | 30.501 | 1.33 | a |
| 1860 | MW gdp | 31.443 | 1.49 | a |
| 1861 | MW gdp | 32.091 | 1.97 | a |
| 1862 | MW gdp | 32.753 | 9.06 | a |
| 1863 | MW gdp | 33.428 | 14.69 | a |
| 1864 | MW gdp | 34.117 | 19.20 | a |
| 1865 | MW gdp | 34.820 | 27.13 | a |
| 1866 | MW gdp | 35.537 | 30.83 | a |
| 1867 | MW gdp | 36.270 | 32.10 | a |
| 1868 | MW gdp | 37.017 | 32.06 | a |
| 1869 | MW gdp | 37.780 | 32.99 | a |
| 1870 | MW gdp | 38.558 | 32.06 | a |
| 1871 | MW gdp | 39.588 | 31.00 | a |
| 1872 | MW gdp | 40.646 | 27.38 | a |
| 1873 | MW gdp | 41.732 | 25.53 | a |
| 1874 | MW gdp | 42.847 | 26.55 | a |
| 1875 | MW gdp | 43.991 | 27.36 | a |
| 1876 | MW gdp | 45.166 | 26.24 | a |
| 1877 | MW gdp | 46.373 | 25.88 | a |
| 1878 | MW gdp | 47.612 | 26.93 | a |
| 1879 | MW gdp | 48.883 | 25.10 | a |
| 1880 | MW gdp | 50.189 | 20.46 | a |
| 1881 | MW gdp | 51.342 | 17.79 | a |
| 1882 | MW gdp | 52.521 | 15.71 | a |
| 1883 | MW gdp | 53.726 | 15.30 | a |
| 1884 | MW gdp | 54.960 | 15.54 | a |
| 1885 | MW gdp | 56.222 | 16.08 | a |
| 1886 | MW gdp | 57.513 | 14.57 | a |
| 1887 | MW gdp | 58.833 | 12.61 | a |
| 1888 | MW gdp | 60.184 | 12.21 | a |
| 1889 | MW gdp | 61.566 | 11.69 | a |
| 1890 | MW gdp | 62.980 | 10.29 | a |
| 1891 | MW gdp | 64.192 | 10.03 | a |
| 1892 | MW gdp | 65.428 | 9.71 | a |
| 1893 | MW gdp | 66.688 | 10.03 | a |
| 1894 | MW gdp | 67.972 | 11.54 | a |
| 1895 | MW gdp | 69.281 | 10.74 | a |
| 1896 | MW gdp | 70.615 | 11.42 | a |
| 1897 | MW gdp | 71.974 | 11.25 | a |
| 1898 | MW gdp | 73.360 | 9.93 | a |
| 1899 | MW gdp | 74.773 | 10.21 | a |
| 1900 | MW gdp | 76.212 | 10.39 | a |
| 1901 | MW gdp | 77.680 | 9.62 | a |
| 1902 | MW gdp | 79.176 | 8.97 | a |
| 1903 | MW gdp | 80.701 | 8.49 | a |
| 1904 | MW gdp | 82.255 | 8.82 | a |
| 1905 | MW gdp | 83.839 | 7.90 | a |
| 1906 | MW gdp | 85.453 | 7.53 | a |
| 1907 | MW gdp | 87.099 | 7.26 | a |
| 1908 | MW gdp | 88.776 | 8.72 | a |
| 1909 | MW gdp | 90.486 | 8.19 | a |
| 1910 | MW gdp | 92.229 | 7.94 | a |
| 1911 | MW gdp | 93.523 | 8.05 | a |
| 1912 | MW gdp | 94.836 | 7.67 | a |
| 1913 | MW gdp | 96.167 | 7.45 | a |
| 1914 | MW gdp | 97.516 | 7.98 | a |
| 1915 | MW gdp | 98.885 | 7.91 | a |
| 1916 | MW gdp | 100.273 | 7.27 | a |
| 1917 | MW gdp | 101.680 | 9.58 | a |
| 1918 | MW gdp | 103.107 | 19.24 | a |
| 1919 | MW gdp | 104.554 | 34.97 | a |
| 1920 | MW gdp | 106.022 | 29.36 | a |
| 1921 | MW gdp | 107.626 | 32.58 | a |
| 1922 | MW gdp | 109.254 | 31.27 | a |
| 1923 | MW gdp | 110.908 | 26.17 | a |
| 1924 | MW gdp | 112.586 | 24.44 | a |
| 1925 | MW gdp | 114.290 | 22.65 | a |
| 1926 | MW gdp | 116.019 | 20.26 | a |
| 1927 | MW gdp | 117.775 | 19.38 | a |
| 1928 | MW gdp | 119.557 | 18.08 | a |
| 1929 | MW gdp | 121.366 | 16.34 | a |
| 1930 | MW gdp | 123.203 | 17.75 | a |
| 1931 | MW gdp | 124.071 | 21.96 | a |
| 1932 | MW gdp | 124.945 | 33.20 | a |
| 1933 | MW gdp | 125.825 | 39.96 | a |
| 1934 | MW gdp | 126.712 | 40.99 | a |
| 1935 | MW gdp | 127.605 | 39.16 | a |
| 1936 | MW gdp | 128.504 | 40.31 | a |
| 1937 | MW gdp | 129.410 | 39.64 | a |
| 1938 | MW gdp | 130.321 | 43.16 | a |
| 1939 | MW gdp | 131.240 | 43.86 | a |
| 1940 | MW gdp | 132.165 | 50.00 | a |
| 1941 | MW gdp | 133.966 | 45.41 | a |
| 1942 | MW gdp | 135.792 | 48.92 | a |
| 1943 | MW gdp | 137.643 | 71.83 | a |
| 1944 | MW gdp | 139.519 | 92.85 | a |
| 1945 | MW gdp | 141.421 | 116.65 | a |
| 1946 | MW gdp | 143.349 | 121.96 | a |
| 1947 | MW gdp | 145.303 | 105.35 | a |
| 1948 | MW gdp | 147.283 | 93.66 | a |
| 1949 | MW gdp | 149.291 | 94.54 | a |
| 1950 | MW gdp | 151.326 | 87.45 | a |
| 1951 | MW gdp | 153.917 | 75.24 | a |
| 1952 | MW gdp | 156.552 | 72.31 | a |
| 1953 | MW gdp | 159.232 | 70.12 | a |
| 1954 | MW gdp | 161.958 | 71.19 | a |
| 1955 | MW gdp | 164.731 | 66.16 | a |
| 1956 | MW gdp | 167.551 | 62.34 | a |
| 1957 | MW gdp | 170.420 | 59.04 | a |
| 1958 | MW gdp | 173.337 | 59.86 | a |
| 1959 | MW gdp | 176.305 | 56.74 | a |
| 1960 | MW gdp | 179.323 | 55.19 | a |
| 1961 | MW gdp | 181.588 | 53.72 | a |
| 1962 | MW gdp | 183.881 | 51.72 | a |
| 1963 | MW gdp | 186.204 | 50.23 | a |
| 1964 | MW gdp | 188.555 | 47.63 | a |
| 1965 | MW gdp | 190.937 | 44.82 | a |
| 1966 | MW gdp | 193.348 | 41.70 | a |
| 1967 | MW gdp | 195.790 | 40.90 | a |
| 1968 | MW gdp | 198.263 | 40.52 | a |
| 1969 | MW gdp | 200.766 | 37.16 | a |
| 1970 | MW gdp | 203.302 | 36.69 | a |
| 1971 | MW gdp | 205.515 | 36.22 | a |
| 1972 | MW gdp | 207.752 | 35.22 | a |
| 1973 | MW gdp | 210.013 | 33.73 | a |
| 1974 | MW gdp | 212.299 | 32.27 | a |
| 1975 | MW gdp | 214.609 | 33.09 | a |
| 1976 | MW gdp | 216.945 | 34.47 | a |
| 1977 | MW gdp | 219.307 | 34.80 | a |
| 1978 | MW gdp | 221.694 | 33.86 | a |
| 1979 | MW gdp | 224.107 | 32.37 | a |
| 1980 | MW gdp | 226.546 | 32.60 | a |
| 1981 | MW gdp | 228.670 | 31.82 | a |
| 1982 | MW gdp | 230.815 | 34.96 | a |
| 1983 | MW gdp | 232.979 | 38.81 | a |
| 1984 | MW gdp | 235.164 | 39.80 | a |
| 1985 | MW gdp | 237.369 | 43.09 | a |
| 1986 | MW gdp | 239.595 | 47.54 | a |
| 1987 | MW gdp | 241.842 | 49.53 | a |
| 1988 | MW gdp | 244.110 | 51.00 | a |
| 1989 | MW gdp | 246.399 | 52.31 | a |
| 1990 | MW gdp | 248.710 | 55.28 | a |
| 1991 | MW gdp | 251.802 | 60.05 | a |
| 1992 | MW gdp | 254.933 | 63.10 | a |
| 1993 | MW gdp | 258.103 | 65.26 | a |
| 1994 | MW gdp | 261.312 | 65.54 | a |
| 1995 | MW gdp | 264.561 | 66.36 | a |
| 1996 | MW gdp | 267.850 | 66.10 | a |
| 1997 | MW gdp | 271.180 | 64.44 | a |
| 1998 | MW gdp | 274.552 | 62.30 | a |
| 1999 | MW gdp | 277.966 | 59.93 | a |
| 2000 | MW gdp | 282.172 | 56.56 | a |
| 2001 | MW gdp | 285.082 | 56.09 | a |
| 2002 | MW gdp | 287.804 | 58.24 | a |
| 2003 | MW gdp | 290.326 | 60.67 | a |
| 2004 | MW gdp | 293.046 | 62.05 | a |
| 2005 | MW gdp | 295.507 | 62.63 | a |
| 2006 | MW gdp | 298.109 | 63.18 | a |
| 2007 | MW gdp | 300.733 | 63.80 | a |
| 2008 | MW gdp | 303.380 | 69.87 | a |
| 2009 | MW gdp | 306.051 | 84.99 | a |
| 2010 | MW gdp | 308.746 | 93.31 | a |
| 2011 | 15079.6 | 311.592 | 102.63 | e |
| 2012 | 15684.8 | 314.123 | 106.18 | e |
Legend: Data Sources for 2012: | ||||
Sources
U.S. Federal Individual Income Tax Rates History, 1913-2011
US Federal Income tax rate Schedules
New FDSYS federal budget page
from US Government Printing Office
Combined Statement of Receipts, Outlays, and Balances of the United States Government FY 2010
Annual US Treasury Report on Spending and Revenue
US Government - Historical Debt Outstanding
US Treasury's measure of US National Debt
Measuring Worth - GDP Series for US and UK
includes GDP and chained GDP for US; GDP and chained GDP for UK
Gross Domestic Product by State
from Bureau of Economic Analysis
US Population Estimates from 1900
Census Bureau's annual population estimate from 1900 to 1999
2005 Census of Governments - Finance Technical Documentation
Contains Census Bureau spending and revenue codes
JpGraph Chart Library
Open source graph creating Library for PHP.
Statistical Abstract of the United States
historical editions of Census Bureau's publication. From 1878.
> archive
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Top links
Data Sources for 1792_2012:
Sources for 1792:
GDP: Measuring Worth - US GDP
Federal: Bicentennial Edition: Historical Statistics of the US, Colonial Times to 1970
State and Local: not available
Sources for 2012:
GDP: Measuring Worth - US GDP
Federal: Fed. Budget: Hist. Tables 3.2, 5.1, 7.1
State and Local: State and Local Gov. Finances
“Guesstimated” by projecting the latest change in reported spending forward to future years
> data sources for other years
> data update schedule.
State and Local Spending for Individual States from 1957 to 1991
Up to now, we have provided state and local finances from the present back to 1992 using data provided by the Census Bureau here. But the Census Bureau also has data on individual states going back to 1957 here in file Govt_Finances.zip.
There is a break in data series at 1991-92. The Census Bureau prior to 1992 has fewer line items than the post-1992 data. There is also a break at 1976-77. The Census Bureau prior to 1977 has fewer line items than the post-1977 data. Typically, the data in reports for earlier years is reported in an aggregate item that sums up the detailed items in the more recent data reports.
These breaks in data have produced "notches" in some of the data series, and we have done some "juggle-ology" to produce smoother data series, as detailed below.
One problem in the pre-1992 data is that Medicaid is not broken out of welfare. Up to now, for pre 1992 years we have estimated Medicaid expenses for all states combined based upon the assumption that the intergovernmental transfers to health care all apply to Medicaid and can be subtracted from the gross welfare expenditures to produce welfare net of Medicaid. For each state, therefore, we have broken down pre-1992 gross welfare expenditures between net welfare and Medicaid based upon the overall ratio for all states between net welfare (gross welfare less health care intergovernmental transfer) and Medicaid (health care intergovernmental transfer).
Another problem that the pre-1992 data seems to include judicial and legal system expenditures under "General Control" in the "General Government" category. Data since 1992 has separate data series for judicial and legal system expenditures and we showed it under "Protection" in the default data view. We have therefore created a new "default" view with judicial and legal system expenditures included under "General Government." The old default view -- now labeled "old" -- has the judicial and legal system expenditures included under "Protection." Typically, any links you have saved previous to June 15, 2013 will categorize data under the old default view. New links will use the new default view, unless you select the old default view.
For 1958-60 combined state-and-local data only is reported in the Census Bureau data. So we have estimated state data and local data by interpolation from 1957 and 1961.
Budget News
FY 2014 Budget due for release April 10, 2013
Obama budget would cut entitlements in exchange for tax increases.
Obama budget delayed until April
Sources say April 8, 2013.
2014 budget to be released in mid-March
"We understand that the President intends to submit the top-level budget to the Congress in mid-March, with the delivery of all justification material later in the month," according to Defense Dept. Deputy Controller John Roth.
> archive
Blog
Gross State Product Update for 2012
The US Bureau of Economic Analysis released its Gross State Product (GSP) data for 2012 on June 6...
Medicare and Social Security Details
On May 10, 2013, usgovernmentspending.com was updated to provide details of Social Security -- OASI...
New Medicare Breakdown
On May 12, 2013 we updated usgovernmentspending.com to show details of the federal Medicare progra...
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Spend links
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