The cost of servicing U.S. public debt has reached approximately 3.2 percent of GDP, the highest level since at least the 1970s. This metric has nearly tripled over the past five years.
During the same period, national defense spending as a share of GDP has fallen to roughly 3.0 percent, the lowest level since the early 2000s.
As a result, interest payments on debt have exceeded defense spending for the third consecutive year, marking the longest such stretch in at least 46 years. Nominal interest payments have surged by $711 billion, or 140 percent, since 2020, reaching an unprecedented annual rate of $1.22 trillion. By contrast, defense spending rose by $237 billion, or 35 percent, over the same span, climbing to a record annual rate of $923 billion.
The U.S. debt burden has now entered uncharted territory.