Data analyzed by Finbold indicates that the top five countries globally with the highest public debt added $9.17 trillion between March 2020 and March 2021. The United States leads with the debt growing by $4.57 trillion from $23.45 trillion to $28.0.2 trillion. Elsewhere, Japan’s public debt has grown from $11.42 trillion to $14.64 trillion. Cumulatively, the two countries have added $7.79 trillion in debt.

The United Kingdom’s public debt has also grown by $0.24 trillion from $3.34 trillion to $3.58 trillion. In March 2020, Germany’s national debt stood at $2.37 trillion, adding $0.83 trillion as of March 2021. Italy’s debt slightly surged by $0.31 trillion from $2.87 trillion to $3.18 trillion. Interestingly, the analysis shows that China’s national debt dropped by $0.57 trillion from $8.56 trillion to $7.99 trillion among the selected leading economies.

Pandemic response to pandemic contributes to a surge in national debt

The report explains why most countries witnessed a sharp increase in national debt over the last 12 months. According to the research report:

    “Overall, most countries globally have enacted a massive amount of monetary and fiscal stimulus to prevent a deep and prolonged recession, in return increasing the public debt burden. However, it appears there has been little effort to balance the coronavirus response with solving the national debt crisis.”

In terms of the national debt percentage growth by Country, Germany tops with 35.02%, followed by Japan at 28.2%, and the US ranks third at 19.29%. Italy’s debt grew by 10.8%, with the UK standing at 7.19%.