Global debt has grown to $315 trillion this year — here’s how we got here

The world is mired in $315 trillion of debt, according to a report from the Institute of International Finance.

This global debt wave has been the biggest, fastest and most wide-ranging rise in debt since World War II, coinciding with the Covid-19 pandemic.

“This increase marks the second consecutive quarterly rise and was primarily driven by emerging markets, where debt surged to an unprecedented high of over $105 trillion—$55 trillion more than a decade ago,”  the IIF said in its quarterly Global Debt Monitor report released in May.

Around two-thirds of the $315 trillion owed originates from mature economies, with Japan and the United States contributing the most to that debt pile.