Society | May 11

Record high Japan govt. debt of nearly $10 trillion

May 11 (NHK) - Japan's Finance Ministry says central government debt hit another record high at the end of the last fiscal year.

The debt stood at 1,087 trillion 813 billion yen, or about 9.94 trillion dollars, as of March 31st.

That's up 148.6 billion dollars from the figure at the end of the previous fiscal year and an all-time high for the second consecutive year.

The growth primarily stems from the issuance of government bonds to cover snowballing spending on the aging population.

Most of the debt is in the form of government bonds worth roughly 8.77 trillion dollars.

Per-capita debt stood at around 78,500 dollars as of April 1st. The level of Japan's government debt is among the worst in advanced nations.

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