The Rag Blog: Our Legacy and Our Shame

18 June 2007

Our Legacy and Our Shame

Named and shamed -- the world's biggest military spenders
By Sweden International Peace Research Institute
Jun 12, 2007, 07:59

Stockholm International Peace Research Institute announced the world's top 10 military spenders for 2006 on June 11, 2007.

The list below shows the amount that each country spent on weapons in 2005 US dollars and the share of world arms expenditures.

1. United States, $528.7 billion, 46 per cent
2. Britain, $59.2 billion, 5 per cent
3. France, $53.1 billion, 5 per cent
4. China, $49.5 billion, 4 per cent
5. Japan, $43.7 billion, 4 per cent
6. Germany, $37.0 billion, 3 per cent
7. Russia, $34.7 billion, 3 per cent
8. Italy, $29.9 billion, 3 per cent
9. Saudi Arabia, $29.0 billion, 3 per cent
10. India, $23.9 billion, 2 per cent

[This amounts to 78% of total world's spending. The total figure is about $1.7 trillion. Editor's note.]

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