The US has hit its debt ceiling. As of December 31 2012, the US Treasury says

I can confirm we will reach the statutory debt limit today, Dec. 31

It has gone up from an unimaginable $14.3 trillion in August last year to $16.394tn as part of a package agreed then. After the fiscal cliff deal, the level of the debt ceiling is the next big debate to be had.

But what is the debt ceiling? Under US law, all government borrowing has to be approved by Congress, and they do this by limiting the amount that can be borrowed: this is the debt ceiling.

The latest figures, taking into account the new raise, show that:

• The debt ceiling has been changed 104 times since 1944 - 94 increases and 10 decreases

• It has been raised 54 times by Republicans, 40 times by Democrats

• Ronald Reagan increased the debt ceiling by 18 times, followed by Jimmy Carter and Lyndon Johnson by 10 times and George Bush Sr by 9 times

• So far, Barack Obama has raised the debt ceiling by six times - less than George W Bush's 7 times

The previous time it went up, in February 2010, the figure increased to $14.294 trillion. The debt reached that limit and was then raised by $400bn.

According to estimates from the last US budget, that debt is predicted to keep going up - to $21.3tn by the end of 2017. We've also looked at the size of the US national debt and the size of foreign holdings of US treasury bonds here.

We've extracted the full data from a mix of the White House OMB's historic budget tables, the US Bureau of Economic Analysis and the US Treasury to show how the ceiling has changed since 1940, and which party was in power at the time.

Although the Democrats have raised the ceiling less than Republicans - the average amounts have been bigger percentage increases (not accounting for inflation) from one to another.

But is has gone down too - on a few occasions since 1940.

You can download the full data below. What can you do with it?

US Debt ceiling - and who was in power % changes from one ceiling limit to another. Click heading to sort. Download this - and more - data Date. Debt ceiling, $bn Debt ceiling as % of GDP Year end debt, $m Party President % change (exc inflation) 6/25/1940. 49.00 48.32 43 Dem FDR 2/19/1941. 65.00 51.3 49 Dem FDR 32.65 3/28/1942. 125.00 77.21 74 Dem FDR 92.31 04/11/1943. 210.00 105.74 140 Dem FDR 68.00 06/09/1944. 260.00 118.29 208 Dem Truman 23.81 04/03/1945. 300.00 134.53 269 Dem Truman 15.38 6/26/1946. 275.00 123.76 269 Dem Truman -8.33 8/28/1954. 281.00 73.87 269 Rep Eisenhower 2.18 6/30/1955. 281.00 67.76 272 Rep Eisenhower 0.00 07/09/1956. 278.00 63.56 271 Rep Eisenhower -1.07 07/01/1957. 275.00 59.64 269 Rep Eisenhower -1.08 2/26/1958. 280.00 59.93 275 Rep Eisenhower 1.82 09/02/1958. 288.00 61.64 275 Rep Eisenhower 2.86 6/30/1959. 295.00 58.23 282 Rep Eisenhower 2.43 6/30/1960. 293.00 55.66 284 Rep Eisenhower -0.68 6/30/1961. 298.00 54.7 286 Dem JFK 1.71 3/13/1962. 300.00 51.22 295 Dem JFK 0.67 07/01/1962. 308.00 52.59 295 Dem JFK 2.67 04/01/1963. 305.00 49.37 303 Dem LBJ -0.97 6/25/1963. 300.00 48.56 303 Dem LBJ -1.64 5/29/1963. 307.00 49.69 303 Dem LBJ 2.33 07/01/1963. 309.00 50.02 303 Dem LBJ 0.65 8/27/1963. 309.00 50.02 303 Dem LBJ 0.00 11/26/1963. 315.00 50.99 303 Dem LBJ 1.94 6/30/1964. 309.00 46.56 309 Dem LBJ -1.90 6/29/1964. 324.00 48.82 309 Dem LBJ 4.85 6/24/1965. 328.00 45.61 314 Dem LBJ 1.23 6/24/1966. 330.00 41.89 316 Dem LBJ 0.61 03/02/1967. 336.00 40.37 323 Dem LBJ 1.82 6/30/1967. 358.00 43.01 323 Dem LBJ 6.55 07/01/1968. 365.00 40.12 349 Dem LBJ 1.96 04/07/1969. 377.00 38.3 356 Rep Nixon 3.29 6/30/1970. 395.00 38.04 373 Rep Nixon 4.77 3/17/1971. 430.00 38.16 399 Rep Nixon 8.86 3/15/1972. 450.00 36.35 428 Rep Nixon 4.65 07/01/1972. 450.00 36.35 428 Rep Nixon 0.00 10/27/1972. 465.00 37.56 428 Rep Nixon 3.33 07/01/1973. 465.00 33.64 458 Rep Nixon 0.00 12/03/1973. 475.70 34.41 458 Rep Nixon 2.30 6/30/1974. 495.00 33.01 475 Rep Ford 4.06 2/19/1975. 577.00 35.23 534 Rep Ford 16.57 6/30/1975. 577.00 35.23 534 Rep Ford 0.00 11/14/1975. 595.00 36.33 534 Rep Ford 3.12 3/15/1976. 627.00 34.36 622 Rep Ford 5.38 6/30/1976. 636.00 34.86 622 Rep Ford 1.44 10/01/1976. 682.00 37.38 622 Rep Ford 7.23 04/01/1977. 700.00 34.48 700 Dem Carter 2.64 10/01/1977. 400.00 19.7 700 Dem Carter -42.86 10/04/1977. 752.00 37.04 700 Dem Carter 88.00 3/27/1978. 752.00 32.78 773 Dem Carter 0.00 08/01/1978. 400.00 17.44 773 Dem Carter -46.81 08/03/1978. 798.00 34.79 773 Dem Carter 99.50 04/01/1979. 400.00 15.61 828 Dem Carter -49.87 04/02/1979. 830.00 32.39 828 Dem Carter 107.50 9/29/1979. 879.00 34.31 828 Dem Carter 5.90 5/30/1980. 879.00 31.53 909 Dem Carter 0.00 06/06/1980. 879.00 31.53 909 Dem Carter 0.00 6/28/1980. 925.00 33.18 909 Dem Carter 5.23 12/19/1980. 935.10 33.54 909 Dem Carter 1.09 02/07/1981. 985.00 31.5 999 Rep Reagan 5.34 9/30/1981. 999.80 31.98 999 Rep Reagan 1.50 9/30/1981. 1079.80 34.53 999 Rep Reagan 8.00 6/28/1982. 1143.10 35.14 1,143 Rep Reagan 5.86 9/30/1982. 1290.20 39.66 1,143 Rep Reagan 12.87 5/26/1983. 1389.00 39.3 1,378 Rep Reagan 7.66 11/21/1983. 1490.00 42.15 1,378 Rep Reagan 7.27 5/25/1984. 1520.00 38.67 1,573 Rep Reagan 2.01 07/06/1984. 1573.00 40.02 1,573 Rep Reagan 3.49 10/13/1984. 1823.80 46.4 1,573 Rep Reagan 15.94 11/14/1985. 1903.80 45.14 1,824 Rep Reagan 4.39 12/12/1985. 2078.70 49.29 1,824 Rep Reagan 9.19 8/21/1986. 2111.00 47.33 2,111 Rep Reagan 1.55 10/21/1986. 2300.00 51.57 2,111 Rep Reagan 8.95 5/15/1987. 2320.00 48.98 2,336 Rep Reagan 0.87 7/30/1987. 2320.00 48.98 2,336 Rep Reagan 0.00 08/10/1987. 2352.00 49.66 2,336 Rep Reagan 1.38 9/29/1987. 2800.00 59.12 2,336 Rep Reagan 19.05 08/07/1989. 2870.00 52.35 2,830 Rep Bush Sr 2.50 11/08/1989. 3122.70 56.96 2,830 Rep Bush Sr 8.80 08/09/1990. 3195.00 55.08 3,161 Rep Bush Sr 2.32 10/02/1990. 3195.00 55.08 3,161 Rep Bush Sr 0.00 10/09/1990. 3195.00 55.08 3,161 Rep Bush Sr 0.00 10/19/1990. 3195.00 55.08 3,161 Rep Bush Sr 0.00 10/25/1990. 3195.00 55.08 3,161 Rep Bush Sr 0.00 10/28/1990. 3230.00 55.68 3,161 Rep Bush Sr 1.10 11/05/1990. 4145.00 71.46 3,161 Rep Bush Sr 28.33 04/06/1993. 4370.00 65.54 4,316 Dem Clinton 5.43 08/10/1993. 4900.00 73.49 4,316 Dem Clinton 12.13 02/08/1996. 4900.00 62.51 5,137 Dem Clinton 0.00 03/12/1996. 4900.00 62.51 5,137 Dem Clinton 0.00 3/29/1996. 5500.00 70.17 5,137 Dem Clinton 12.24 08/05/1997. 5950.00 75.91 5,328 Dem Clinton 8.18 6/28/2002. 6400.00 60.14 6,161 Rep Bush Jr 7.56 5/27/2003. 7384.00 66.27 6,738 Rep Bush Jr 15.38 11/19/2004. 8184.00 68.96 7,333 Rep Bush Jr 10.83 3/20/2006. 8965.00 66.91 8,420 Rep Bush Jr 9.54 9/29/2007. 9815.00 69.8 8,921 Rep Bush Jr 9.48 7/30/2008. 10615.00 73.87 9,960 Rep Bush Jr 8.15 10/03/2008. 11315.00 78.75 9,960 Rep Bush Jr 6.59 2/17/2009. 12104.00 85.73 11,853 Dem Obama 6.97 12/28/2009. 12394.00 87.78 11,853 Dem Obama 2.40 02/12/2010. 14294.00 97 13,511 Dem Obama 15.33 08/02/2011. 14694.00 95.91 14,747 Dem Obama 2.80 9/21/2011. 15194.00 99.17 14,747 Dem Obama 3.40 1/27/2012. 16394.00 105.19 16,334 Dem Obama 7.90

• DATA: download the full spreadsheet

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