<p>The difference are the intragovernmental holdings, which consist of  treasuries that are owned by government agencies and are thus not counted as government debt - it's a debt that the government owes to itself.</p>

<p>From Wikipedia (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intragovernmental_holdings" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intragovernmental_holdings</a>):</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>In the United States, intragovernmental holdings are primarily
  composed of the Medicare Trust Fund, the Social Security Trust Fund,
  and Federal Financing Bank securities. A small amount of marketable
  securities are held by government accounts.</p>
</blockquote>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-01-30T18:12:54.397Z
2017-01-30T18:12:54.397Z
Tobias
<p>On <a href="https://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/debt/rss" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/debt/rss</a>, we have three numbers:</p>

<pre><code>Debt Held by the Public: $14,387,199,090,397.24
Intragovernmental Holdings: $5,552,709,700,473.24
Total Public Debt Outstanding: $19,939,908,790,870.48
</code></pre>

<p>It seems the latter number is often considered the U.S. national debt. What is the difference between the Debt Held by the Public and the Total Public Debt Outstanding? </p>

<government-debt>
Difference between "Debt Held by the Public" and "Total Public Debt Outstanding"?
Albert Albala
# Difference between "Debt Held by the Public" and "Total Public Debt Outstanding"?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2017-01-30)

On https://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/debt/rss, we have three numbers:
Debt Held by the Public: $14,387,199,090,397.24
Intragovernmental Holdings: $5,552,709,700,473.24
Total Public Debt Outstanding: $19,939,908,790,870.48

It seems the latter number is often considered the U.S. national debt. What is the difference between the Debt Held by the Public and the Total Public Debt Outstanding?

**Tags:** government-debt


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2017-01-30. Score: 1

The difference are the intragovernmental holdings, which consist of treasuries that are owned by government agencies and are thus not counted as government debt - it's a debt that the government owes to itself.

From Wikipedia (<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intragovernmental_holdings>):

> In the United States, intragovernmental holdings are primarily
> composed of the Medicare Trust Fund, the Social Security Trust Fund,
> and Federal Financing Bank securities. A small amount of marketable
> securities are held by government accounts.


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