Photo taken on March 23, 2020 shows a U.S. dollar banknote in Washington D.C., the United States. [Photo/Xinhua]

U.S. total public debt exceeded 37 trillion U.S. dollars on Monday, according to data issued by the U.S. Department of the Treasury on Tuesday.

Debt held by the public and intragovernmental holdings read at 29.64 and 7.36 trillion dollars, respectively.

The sum of U.S. public debt stood at 35.46 trillion dollars at the beginning of fiscal year 2024-2025, which started on Oct. 1, 2024, according to a daily treasury statement.

The fast swelling of U.S. debt in the last few years raised grave concerns across the globe.

"The gross national debt hitting 37 trillion U.S. dollars is yet another stunning reminder of the terrible state of federal finances. Spending and revenue are woefully out of balance -- to the tune of nearly 2 trillion U.S. dollars annually and rising," said Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, in a statement.

MacGuineas expressed the hope that this milestone is enough to wake up policymakers to the reality that "we need to do something, and we need to do it quickly."

U.S. debt hit 35 trillion and 36 trillion U.S. dollars in July and November 2024, respectively, after breaking 34 trillion U.S. dollars in January of the year.

Statistics from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis show that the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) was only valued at 29.18 trillion U.S. dollars in 2024.