How large is Japan's government debt?
Data through Q2 2026Japan's central government debt stood at ¥1,346.7 trillion at the end of Q2 2026, on the Ministry of Finance's quarterly statement of government bonds, borrowings and financing bills outstanding.
Up ¥2.8 trillion from Q1 2026 and up ¥14.5 trillion (+1.1%) from a year earlier. That is the highest in the series, which begins in 2021.
Data through Q2 2026. Retrieved from the source on 2026-09-14. As published.
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Definition
The Ministry of Finance publishes the central government's outstanding debt at each quarter-end: government bonds, borrowings and financing bills. This is the figure usually quoted as Japan's national debt. It is a gross figure — it is not reduced by the government's own financial assets — and it excludes local government debt.
The value here is in hundreds of millions of yen as published; the sentence above converts it to trillions. Changes on the quarter and on the year are calculated from the published values.
The composition of the debt, tax receipts and the budget are on the public finance page.
Central Government Debt Outstanding, Quarter-End
Latest Readings
| Period | Debt outstanding (¥100mn) | YoY (%) |
|---|---|---|
| Q2 2026 | 13,466,833 | 1.1 |
| Q1 2026 | 13,438,426 | 1.5 |
| Q4 2025 | 13,421,720 | 1.9 |
| Q3 2025 | 13,335,914 | 1.8 |
| Q2 2025 | 13,321,872 | 1.6 |
| Q1 2025 | 13,237,155 | 2.0 |
| Q4 2024 | 13,176,365 | 2.4 |
| Q3 2024 | 13,104,385 | 2.7 |
How to Cite
Plover Analytics, “Japan government debt”, https://ploveranalytics.com/japan-government-debt.html, retrieved 2026-10-28. Source: Ministry of Finance — Central Government Debt Outstanding (国債及び借入金並びに政府保証債務現在高).
The full series, every earlier release and a CSV with its sources in the header are on the data page. Values can be read as they stood on any earlier date through the API; guidance for quoting is in llms.txt.
Latest values as text and table
Central government debt outstanding
Latest reading, June 2026: Total Debt 13,466,833 ¥100mn; General Bonds 11,108,839 ¥100mn; Financing Bills 943,994 ¥100mn; Guaranteed Debt 274,346 ¥100mn.
| Period | Total debt (¥100mn) | General bonds (¥100mn) | FILP bonds (¥100mn) | Financing bills (¥100mn) | Total debt · YoY (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q2 2026 | 13,466,833 | 11,108,839 | 882,854 | 943,994 | 1.1 |
| Q1 2026 | 13,438,426 | 11,042,984 | 909,214 | 922,995 | 1.5 |
| Q4 2025 | 13,421,720 | 10,944,874 | 917,859 | 1,003,996 | 1.9 |
| Q3 2025 | 13,335,914 | 10,882,168 | 924,338 | 1,004,994 | 1.8 |
| Q2 2025 | 13,321,872 | 10,856,647 | 922,526 | 1,000,996 | 1.6 |
| Q1 2025 | 13,237,155 | 10,797,344 | 914,069 | 938,996 | 2.0 |
| Q4 2024 | 13,176,365 | 10,710,047 | 926,854 | 971,995 | 2.4 |
| Q3 2024 | 13,104,385 | 10,653,140 | 910,959 | 998,994 | 2.7 |
YoY: (value[t] / value[t−12 months] − 1) × 100, from published values.
Source: Ministry of Finance — Central Government Debt Outstanding (国債及び借入金並びに政府保証債務現在高). · Data through Q2 2026 · JSON · CSV · Markdown