$7.3 trillion in U.S. debt to foreigners

The U.S. owes $7.3 trillion of its total national debt in Treasury securities to foreign investors, and foreign lenders lead Japan, followed by China and Britain.

What about the distribution of external debt among the 30 countries in terms of numbers?

It should first be noted that bonds are among the most liquid assets around the world, central banks use them for foreign exchange reserves, and private investors seek them out because of their low risk of default.

Beyond these reasons, foreign investors may purchase Treasury bills as a store of value, use them as collateral during certain international business transactions, or countries may use them to help manage exchange rate policy and protect their currency exchange rate from speculation.

Based on U.S. Treasury data, Visual Capitalist compiled a list of U.S. Treasury bond holdings, with Japan at the top at $1.1 trillion, making it the largest creditor to the U.S.

This means that Japan overtook China as the largest holder of US bonds occupied by Beijing in 2019, after China shed more than $250 billion, or 30% of its share of US debt in 4 years, knowing that China does not just use the dollar to manage its own currencies, it now accepts a basket of currencies. .

For the United Kingdom, it is the third-largest holder of US bonds, with more than 655 billion. Across Europe, there are 13 major bondholders, the most of any region worldwide, followed by the Asia-Pacific region with 11.

As the Cayman Islands have a population of 70,000, some of the smallest countries have a surprising amount of US debt, while they hold $284 billion worth of Treasury bonds.

The four smallest countries here, the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, the Bahamas and Luxembourg, have a combined population of just 1.2 million people, but hold $741 billion in treasury bonds.

In details, Japan is the largest holder of US Treasury bonds with an amount of 1076 billion dollars and its share is 14.7%, China 867 billion (11.9%), United Kingdom 655 billion (8.9%), and Belgium 354 billion (4.8%), followed by Luxembourg 329 billion ( 4.5%), and Cayman Islands 284 billion (3.9%).

Switzerland ranks seventh with $270 billion and a 3.7% share, followed by Ireland at $255 billion (3.5%), Taiwan at $226 billion (3.1%), India at $224 billion (3.1%), and Hong Kong at 221 billion. (3.0%), Brazil 217 billion (3.0%), and Canada 215 billion (2.9%).

Also in 14th place are France, $189 billion and a 2.6% share, Singapore $179 billion (2.4%), Saudi Arabia $120 billion (1.6%), South Korea $103 billion (1.4%), and Germany $101 billion (1.4%), Norway 92 billion (1.3%), and Bermuda 82 billion (1.1%).

The last ten ranks are countries with a share of less than 1%, and the Netherlands takes the 21st place with $ 67 billion or 0.9%, followed by Mexico with 59 billion (0.8%), UAE with 59 billion. (0.8%), and Australia 57 billion (0.8%) Kuwait 49 billion (0.7%) Philippines 48 billion (0.7%) Israeli occupation country 48 billion (0.7%) Bahamas 46 billion (0.6%) Thailand 46 billion (0.8%) 0.6%, and Sweden 42 billion (0.6%).