Us debt and deficit chart
Deficits add to the national debt, while surpluses reduce the debt. When a country's debt-to-GDP ratio gets too big, it destabilizes the economy. The annual debt is The highest federal debt in US history was 119.0% GDP in 1946 just after World War II. At the end of FY 2019 the federal deficit was $984 billion, or 4.6% GDP. In CBO's projections of the outlook under current law, deficits remain large by historical standards, federal debt grows to 98 percent of GDP by 2030, and the