The publicly held debt has increased each year since 2010. The Debt Held by the Public, or public debt, is all federal debt held by individuals, corporations, state or local governments, foreign governments and other entities outside the U.S. Government, less Federal Financing Bank securities. The federal government sells securities, such as bonds, to raise cash to fund its activities. These securities become publicly held debt. 

In 2020, publicly held debt was $12 billion more than in 2010. Publicly held debt is only a portion of the national debt. This means that as publicly held debt increases annually so does our national debt. Although budgets and debt ceilings are meant to stop our nation’s growing federal debt, this graph displays that the federal government spends more than it can afford if the publicly held debt continually increases. 

Between 2019-2020 is when the publicly held debt increased the most; Specifically, it increased by twenty-five percent. One can assume that the publicly held debt will increase in the upcoming years as our nation’s debt has increased since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.