Chart assignment
Charts to read and discuss
Read each chart, then answer its questions. Every chart shows its source and date; open it for a table of the numbers and the data to download.
Chart 1 of 1 · Federal budget
How much US debt do foreign countries own?
The interactive chart needs JavaScript. The numbers are on the chart's page.
Foreign investors, governments and private buyers together, held $9.33 trillion of U.S. Treasury securities in August 2026, about 8 times the $1.25 trillion of March 2000. They reached a high of $9.49 trillion in February 2026. These are Treasury's TIC survey estimates at the end of each month; the series has breaks when annual surveys revise it and when Treasury changed its monthly report in December 2011.
Questions to discuss
- In one sentence of your own, what does this chart show?
- Find the biggest change or difference in the chart. What might explain it?
- Who collected these numbers, and how recent are they? What else would you want to know before drawing a conclusion?
Source: U.S. Treasury, Treasury International Capital (TIC) System, Major Foreign Holders of Treasury Securities (Public domain (U.S. government work)) · Data as of Aug 31, 2026
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