Growth of the US federal debt since 1970

With Republicans and Democrats agreeing to a last-minute deal to raise the US debt limit, the government will avoid default while seeking to reduce the country’s deficit by a reported $2,800bn. While not a small number, this is still only a fraction of the $14,000bn-plus overall national debt.

How did we end up here? This interactive graphic details every date that the US debt ceiling has been raised since 1970. The red line shows US federal debt as a proportion of GDP, along with the name and party of the president in office at the time.

Click and drag your mouse over a particular time period to zoom in.