Select Indicator Data Set
State of the Middle Class

U.S. Economy

NIIP by Country (Billions of USD)

Nation20052010201520202022 Q3
Japan1,531.83,150.42,715.23,422.13,171.9
Germany356.5720.51,138.82,680.02,760.3
China356.81,478.31,698.92,286.82,364.0
Canada-154.6-303.0323.2744.7449.3
South Korea-143.9-132.7204.5487.2746.6
Greece-177.9-298.8-261.3-352.8-290.5
United States-1,857.9-2,511.1-7,590.5-14,707.4-16,710.8

Major Foreign Holders of US Treasury Securities (May 2023)

CountryAmount
Japan$1,096.8
China$846.7
UK$666.6
Belgium$335.5
Luxembourg$334.0
Switzerland$304.4
Cayman Islands$263.3
Ireland$245.1
Taiwan$239.8
Brazil$230.0
France$211.6
Foreign holdings include government and private holdings.

Ratio of National Debt to GDP by Nation

Nation1976199820202022
China---21.3%68.1%76.9%
Germany---59.5%68.7%66.3%
United States35.2%61.3%106.7%121.1%
- As of 2022, foreign powers hold a total of $7.32 trillion, or 24%, of the U.S. federal debt.
- The Federal Reserve and the government own about $10 trillion of the U.S. federal debt
- China and Japan alone hold over $2 trillion in treasury securities 

Ratio of Deficit to GDP for the United States over Time

YearFederal Surplus / Deficit as % of GDP
19600.06%
1970-0.26%
1980-2.58%
1990-3.71%
20002.31%
2010-8.60%
2020-14.87%
2022-5.40%
The United States has not run a federal spending surplus since 2001.

Per Capita Net Foreign Wealth (NIIP) by Country

Country20052010201520202023 Q1
Japan$11,971.83$24,590.16$21,400.47$29,173.29$26,686.96
Germany$4,365.22$10,760.58$18,729.34$34,478.62$35,845.74
China$263.00$1,081.23$1,187.05$1,493.76$1,815.32
Canada-$4,352.61-$8,823.53$8,893.59$23,151.80$21,173.37
South Korea-$2,905.77-$2,623.61$3,920.80$10,621.86$14,875.40
Greece-$16,378.53-$26,978.42-$24,029.57-$32,649.25-$30,918.36
United States-$6,294.42-$8,115.10-$23,261.62-$42,185.13-$49,313.96
- Note: NIIP equals the amount of assets held by one country versus another. 
- Per each U.S. citizen, the world owns $49,313.96 more in U.S. assets than the U.S. owns in the rest of the world's assets.

Inflation Rate by Selected Countries

Year USA China Japan South Korea Taiwan 
July 20233.2%-0.3%---2.3%1.9%
June 20233.0%0.0%3.3%2.7%1.8%
May 20234.0%0.2%3.2%3.3%2.0%
  • Source: Bloomberg
  • Previous: August 2023
  • Next: December 2023

Blue Collar Dollar Institute

The Blue Collar Dollar Institute believes that the United States cannot offer a middle-class lifestyle to a large majority of Americans without possessing a strong and vibrant manufacturing sector.  Our non-partisan mission is to research data, inform the public, and advocate for policy in order to help strengthen US manufacturing and goods-producing sectors. 

Twitter Facebook Linkedin

Middle Class

News

Quick Links

Ratio of Debt to GDP by nation

This figure is found by dividing a nation’s total debt by the real GDP at that period. Total debt is comprised of intragovernmental debt and debt held by the public. When a foreign nation owns part of another nation’s debt (for the U.S., this would be a nation buying Treasury bonds), this constitutes an increase in public debt.

Net International Investment Positions

According to Investopedia, net international investment position (NIIP) measures the gap between a nation’s stock of foreign assets and a foreigner’s stock of that nation’s assets. It is easiest to view this statistic as a sort of balance sheet for a nation. A negative NIIP figure indicates that foreign nations own more of the domestic nation’s assets than the domestic nation does of foreign assets. This makes the U.S. a net debtor nation.