Key facts about the U.S. national debt
Private investors are the biggest holders of national debt – $24.4 trillion as of March 2025 – followed by federal trust funds and retirement programs.
Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
Read our research on:
Search results for: “public health”
-
-
short reads
Growing share of Americans say fewer people having kids would negatively impact the U.S.
Over half of Americans (53%) now say fewer people choosing to have children in the future would negatively impact the United States.
-
short reads
Americans stand out internationally for their pessimism about the nation’s political system
People in higher-income countries are generally less likely to say their nation’s political system needs major changes or complete reform. Americans are an exception.
-
short reads
Americans see a role for the federal government in many domains, but some large partisan divisions persist
Nearly all Americans say the federal government has a responsibility to provide a strong military and secure the nation’s borders.
-
report
Appendix A: Account classification instruction prompt
You are an AI assistant trained to help categorize social media accounts.You will be given a description of an account and some of its recent posts. Here is a detailed codebook of the information you will be asked to provide: # CODEBOOK: ##############################################################– IND-ORG: Whether the account belongs to an individual or an organization. (CHOOSE […]
-
report
Americans’ Largely Positive Views of Childhood Vaccines Hold Steady
About nine-in-ten (88%) Americans say, overall, the benefits of childhood vaccines for measles, mumps and rubella outweigh the risks, identical to the share who said this before the coronavirus outbreak. U.S. adults are less confident in COVID-19 vaccines: Fewer than half rate them as having high health benefits and a low risk of side effects.
-
short reads
A look at women’s colleges in the U.S.
The number of women’s colleges in the U.S. has declined since the mid-20th century, a result of many becoming coeducational, merging with other institutions or simply closing their doors.
-
report
Americans Reflect on Nation’s COVID-19 Response
Americans offer a lackluster evaluation of how the country has balanced priorities during the coronavirus outbreak. Fewer than half say the country has given the right amount of priority to the needs of K-12 students, public health or quality of life.
-
short reads
Gay or bisexual men express concern about monkeypox, are critical of government’s response
Men who describe themselves as gay or bisexual are more likely to say they have received or intend to get a monkeypox vaccine.
-
feature
Americans’ Trust in One Another
Americans trust each other less than they did a few decades ago. We explore why this is, and why some are more trusting than others.
