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U.S. Federal Government Debt Per Resident Over Time
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So What?
1) This chart was created from historical tables included in the U.S. Federal Government fiscal year 2011 budget and U.S.
Census population estimates and projections. The federal government adjusted its fiscal year one calendar quarter (3 months)
during 1976, creating a 'transition quarter,' which has been neglected in this chart.
2) The chart shows the federal debt - the cummulative amount it spent more than it collected in revenue during each fiscal year from 1940 to 2009, with projections through 2015 - divided by the U.S. resident population.
3) The debt has been adjusted for inflation, where the data has been scaled to the constant dollar value during fiscal year
2005. Inflation-adjusted values are also referred to as 'real' values. Inflation values used to calculate the inflation-adjusted debt
were also collected from historical tables included in the fiscal 2011 U.S. Federal Government budget.
4) This debt represents the total money it borrowed from other entities (individuals, businesses, institutions, governments) to pay for its expenses and how much each resident of the U.S. needs to contribute to pay back the loan.
5) From the inflation-adjusted debt per resident data, one can see that the real debt per resident grew dramatically through
1945, then dropped quickly through the end of the 1940s, then more slowly through the mid-1970s. In the early 1980s the debt
per resident grew dramatically through the mid-1990s when debt per resident growth slowed and began to shrink around the
year 2000. Since 2002, the growth of the debt per resident has continued its dramatic rise and is projected to continue to grow
rapidly through 2015, to $50,000 FY2005 inflation-adjusted dollars.
6) This chart doesn't tell us anything about the absolute size of the U.S. Federal Government debt. See U.S. Federal Debt Over
Time.
7) This chart doesn't tell us anything about the debt relative to the size of the economy (Gross Domestic Product; GDP) See
U.S. Federal Debt as a Percent of GDP Over Time.
8) See also U.S. Resident Population Over Time.
1) This chart was created from historical tables included in the U.S. Federal Government fiscal year 2011 budget and U.S.
Census population estimates and projections. The federal government adjusted its fiscal year one calendar quarter (3 months)
during 1976, creating a 'transition quarter,' which has been neglected in this chart.
2) The chart shows the federal debt - the cummulative amount it spent more than it collected in revenue during each fiscal year from 1940 to 2009, with projections through 2015 - divided by the U.S. resident population.
3) The debt has been adjusted for inflation, where the data has been scaled to the constant dollar value during fiscal year
2005. Inflation-adjusted values are also referred to as 'real' values. Inflation values used to calculate the inflation-adjusted debt
were also collected from historical tables included in the fiscal 2011 U.S. Federal Government budget.
4) This debt represents the total money it borrowed from other entities (individuals, businesses, institutions, governments) to pay for its expenses and how much each resident of the U.S. needs to contribute to pay back the loan.
5) From the inflation-adjusted debt per resident data, one can see that the real debt per resident grew dramatically through
1945, then dropped quickly through the end of the 1940s, then more slowly through the mid-1970s. In the early 1980s the debt
per resident grew dramatically through the mid-1990s when debt per resident growth slowed and began to shrink around the
year 2000. Since 2002, the growth of the debt per resident has continued its dramatic rise and is projected to continue to grow
rapidly through 2015, to $50,000 FY2005 inflation-adjusted dollars.
6) This chart doesn't tell us anything about the absolute size of the U.S. Federal Government debt. See U.S. Federal Debt Over
Time.
7) This chart doesn't tell us anything about the debt relative to the size of the economy (Gross Domestic Product; GDP) See
U.S. Federal Debt as a Percent of GDP Over Time.
8) See also U.S. Resident Population Over Time.
Supporting Evidence
Sources: Current Dollar Debt: Budget of the U.S. Government, FY2011 Historical Tables, Table 7.1-Federal Debt At The End Of Year: 1940-2015
Deflaters: Budget of the U.S. Government, FY2011 Historical Tables, Table 10.1-Gross Domestic Product and Deflators Used in the Historical Tables:
1940-2015
Population, 1940-1989: U.S. Census Population Estimates , 1990-1999: U.S. Census Population Estimates , 2000-2008: U.S. Census Population
Estimates, 2009-2015: U.S. Census Population Projections
Deflaters: Budget of the U.S. Government, FY2011 Historical Tables, Table 10.1-Gross Domestic Product and Deflators Used in the Historical Tables:
1940-2015
Population, 1940-1989: U.S. Census Population Estimates , 1990-1999: U.S. Census Population Estimates , 2000-2008: U.S. Census Population
Estimates, 2009-2015: U.S. Census Population Projections
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