Bonds are issued to access monies today that otherwise wouldn't be collected until future periods. Issuing debt is useful in funding projects and programs today that would normally be completed over many years. However, if a government borrows too heavily, the government may have to spend a large portion of its revenues paying principal and interest on the debt, rather than providing governmental services to its citizens.

Assessing the extent to which a government has issued too much debt depends on many variables including the government's capacity to raise revenues, expenditure levels, and ability to access credit markets, and other factors. However, it's generally useful to benchmark certain debt metrics against other similar governments.

Debt per capita provides information about the debt burden placed on each citizen, who is ultimately responsible for repaying debt through taxes, fees, or other charges.