Global debt is dangerously high: The current global debt figure reached a record $303 trillion in 2021 according to the Institute of International Finance. This was a huge jump from the $226 trillion figure in 2020, representing the biggest one-year debt surge since the Second World War. The World Bank says that our current world debt wave is the fourth since 1970 and is a result of various factors including Covid-19 and the war in Ukraine.