National debt of Japan

The national debt of Japan is the total quantity of money borrowed by the Government of Japan through the issuance of government bonds by the Ministry of Finance and other government agencies.

At the end of March 2025, the general gross debt of the Japanese Government was 1,324 trillion yen, or 234.9% of the country's gross domestic product, and is one of the highest among developed nations. At the end of December 2024, of the total government debt balance of 1,212 trillion yen, 88.1 per cent was held domestically. The largest holders were the Bank of Japan (46.3 per cent), domestic insurance companies (15.6 per cent), and domestic banks (14.5 per cent).

Japan's asset price bubble collapse in 1991 led to a prolonged period of economic stagnation described as the 'Lost Decades', with GDP falling significantly in real terms through the 1990s. In response, the Bank of Japan set out in the early 2000s to encourage economic growth through the non-traditional policy of quantitative easing. By 2013, Japanese public debt exceeded one quadrillion yen (approximately US$10.46 trillion at the time). This was roughly twice the country's annual gross domestic product, and already the largest debt ratio of any nation.