Federal debt held by the public at the end of 2019 was $16.8 trillion—or 79 percent of gross domestic product (GDP)—an amount far greater than the average debt for the past 50 years. CBO projects that if current laws generally remained unchanged, that debt would increase to $31.4 trillion, or 98 percent of GDP, by 2030. This report explains how federal borrowing is structured and measured, who owns it, how it has evolved over time, how much it is projected to grow, and what its budgetary and economic consequences are.

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