No - because it's not necessary to repay it
In countries which are monetarily sovereign (such as the
United States of America, the
United Kingdom and most other countries, in contrast with
eurozone countries), government debt held in the home currency are merely savings accounts held at the central bank.
In this way this "debt" has a very different meaning to the debt acquired by households who are restricted by their income. Monetarily sovereign governments issue their own currencies and do not need this income to finance spending. In these self-financing nations, government debt is effectively an account of all the money that has been spent but not yet taxed back. Their ability to issue currency means they can always service the interest repayments on these savings accounts. This is why bonds and gilts are considered the safest form of investment.
Government debt can be categorized as
internal debt (owed to lenders within the country) and
external debt (owed to foreign lenders). Another common division of government debt is by duration until repayment is due. Short term debt is generally considered to be for one year or less, long term is for more than ten years. Medium term debt falls between these two boundaries. A broader definition of government debt may consider all government liabilities, including future pension payments and payments for goods and services the government has contracted but not yet paid.