Prices rose to three times the average of what they were at the beginning of the war.
Great Britain's debt increased almost ten times over in the period of the war, or from $3,580,000,000 to $32,450,000,000 down to June, 1918. These figures do not include the debts of Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa, British colonies.
France's debt was quadrupled by the beginning of 1918, increasing from $6,833,000,000 to $25,410,000,000.
Italy's debt rose from $2,929,000,000 to $6,918,000,000.
Figures for Russia were brought up only to September, 1917, but they showed that at that time she owed $26,287,000,000, as compared with $5,234,000,000 at the beginning of the war.
The public debt of the United States was calculated to January 1, 1918, in order to be in line with those of other countries, increasing by that date to over $8,000,000,000 from a pre-war figure of a billion and a quarter. Since that time $11,500,000,000 have been subscribed to the Liberty Loans, thus increasing the national debt about sixteen fold.
The most extraordinary increase of all was that of Germany, rising from $1,208,000,000 to $26,332,000,000.
Austria owed $2,736,000,000 at the beginning of the war, which was increased by June, 1917, to $11,573,000,000.
Hungary increased her debt from $1,392,000,000 to $5,910,000,000 by
December, 1917.
The neutrals, Denmark, Spain, Holland, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland together owed $2,871,000,000 when war began and increased their debts only to $3,710,000,000.