Global annual military spending tops $1.2 trillion

June 12, 2007

On Monday, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute released their SIPRI Yearbook 2007. In it they outline a number of world issues including annual global military expenditures. World military expenditure in 2006 is estimated to have reached $1,204 billion in current dollars with 15 countries having the highest spending and accounting for 83 per cent of the world total.

The large increase is the USA’s military. Between September 2001 and June 2006, the US Government provided a total of $432 billion in annual and supplemental appropriations under the heading ‘global war on terrorism’. China’s military expenditure continued to increase rapidly, for the first time surpassing that of Japan and hence making China the largest military spender in Asia and the fourth biggest in the world.

The top five military spenders in US$ are:
 * United States $528.7-B
 * United Kingdom $59.2-B
 * France $53.1-B
 * China $49.5-B
 * Japan $43.7-B