What are the top 5 countries that hold the most United States national
dept, which is I believe courently over $4 trillion? And roughly how
much does the US owe those five conmties?

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Clarification of Question by danwb-ga on 05 May 2006 11:24 PDT

What are the top 5 countries that hold the most United States national
dept, which is I believe is curently over $4 trillion? And roughly how
much does the U.S. owe those 5 countries?

Hi danwb,

"The United States public debt, commonly called the national debt,
gross federal debt or U.S. government debt, is the amount of money
owed by the United States federal government to creditors who hold US
Debt Instruments. This does not include the money owed by states,
corporations, or individuals. As of April 18th, 2006, the total U.S.
government debt was $8.4 trillion.

The World Factbook estimated the US's 2005 GDP at $12.41 trillion,
ranking it at the time as the 35th most indebted country in the world
by percentage of GDP at 64.7% of GDP. By comparison, the Factbook's
2005 estimate of China's debt was $242 billion with an estimated 2005
GDP of $8.182 trillion. Of the 206 listed countries in the Factbook
the combined debt was $38.54 trillion. Of that world wide debt, the US
owes approximately 22%."

Wikipedia: United States Public Debt
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._public_debt


According to the Department of Treasury, as of Nov 2004, the U.S. Debt
is estimated at $8,271,135,706,708.54.

Top Ten Countries Holding Our National Debt

Japan                         $715 billion
China                         $191 billion
United Kingdom                $152 billion
"Caribbean Banking Centers     $76 billion
South Korea                    $69 billion
OPEC                           $61 billion
Taiwan                         $58 billion
Germany                        $56 billion
Switzerland                    $51 billion
Hong Kong                      $50 billion

Citation: US House of Representatives - Debbie Wasserman Schultz 
http://www.house.gov/schultz/iss_budget.shtml


"We owe Japan $714.9 billion; China, $191.1 billion; the United
Kingdom, $152.5 billion; the Caribbean Banking Center, $76.2 billion;
Korea, $69.3 billion; OPEC nations, and we wonder by gasoline is so
high, OPEC nations, we have borrowed as a Nation $66.6 billion from
them. The list goes on and on. In fact, we have borrowed, this
administration has borrowed more money from foreign governments and
foreign banks in less than 5 years than the previous 42 Presidents
combined..."

House of Representatives - Congressional Record
November 16, 2005  
The National Debt 
http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/ar04_ross/morenews/floor_111705.html


This may also interest you:

The World Factbook: Rank Order - Debt - external
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/rankorder/2079rank.html


Search criteria:
"United States" "national debt" countries owes trillion
"United States" "national debt" owes china japan 


I hope the information provided is helpful.

Best regards,
Rainbow

It's also important to note that most of the US debt is not owed to
countries but to individuals (mostly US citizens to my knowledge).