how can a country be in debt?
In: Economics
They are in debt to themselves, to their citizens, other governments or business and foreigners.
Debt, in general, works the same for a country as it does for an individual. If you want a loan, it depends on how risky it is if you can get one and what it costs.
The details for a country are very different as a nation can print more money (which has a cost as well) and has the fun attribute of theoretically existing forever. A person who takes out a loan needs to pay it back in a relatively short time period. Wars from over a hundred years ago are still being paid off today by multiple nations.
This is very general, the details can and do get very complex. Nation state debt isn’t inherently bad, which is something way too many think.
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