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 2 · Federal budget
Who owns the US national debt?
The interactive chart needs JavaScript. The numbers are on the chart's page.
At the end of August 2026 the federal debt was $40.2 trillion. Other U.S. investors (banks, mutual funds, pension funds, state and local governments and people) held $18.5 trillion, 46%. Foreign investors held $9.33 trillion (23%), federal trust funds such as Social Security's held $7.76 trillion (19%), and the Federal Reserve $4.55 trillion (11%). Foreign holdings are Treasury's TIC estimate, partly at market value, and the U.S. share is what's left after the others, so the split is approximate.
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 Fiscal Data, Debt to the Penny; U.S. Treasury, TIC Major Foreign Holders of Treasury Securities; Federal Reserve Bank of New York, SOMA Holdings (Treasury data public domain (U.S. government work). The SOMA Holdings data is subject to the Terms of Use posted at newyorkfed.org; the New York Fed is not responsible for publication.) · Data as of Aug 31, 2026
Open the chart and its numbersChart 2 of 2 · World
How much does each country spend on health care per person?
The interactive chart needs JavaScript. The numbers are on the chart's page.
In 2023, the United States spent $13,473 per person on health care, about 10 times the world figure of $1,317. Germany spent $6,395, Japan $3,638, China $763 and India $85; Madagascar spent the least, $17. Search 191 countries and territories. Spending counts what governments, insurers and households paid for health care, but not new hospitals or equipment, in US dollars at each year's exchange rates, not adjusted for differences in prices.
How to read this chart
Each bar is what a country spent on health care in a year, by governments, insurers and households together, divided by its population and turned into U.S. dollars. The dashed line is the world. The figures aren't adjusted for prices, so a dollar buys more care in some countries than others.
Questions to discuss
- About how many times the world figure does the United States spend per person?
- Does spending more on health care per person always mean people live longer? What other chart on Chartly could help you check?
- Doctors and nurses are paid less in some countries. How would that change what these dollar figures can tell you?
Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators: Current health expenditure per capita (current US$) (CC BY 4.0 (credit the World Bank)) · Data as of Dec 31, 2023
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