How much money is spend on the military?
The data of the following statistics (if not stated otherwise) all derive from the index mundi (which is based on the CIA world factbook), and the Fischer Weltalmanach (Online).
Total Budget and Military Budget
The first chart shows the contries' total expenses of the annual budget in 2005 and emphasizes the military expenses. All numbers are billion US-Dollars.
* The second column for the USA - here and in the following charts - derives from data of the War Resisters League for the planned budget in 2007. In contrast to the official data they exclude trust funds such as Social Security and include veterans benefits into the determination of the annual budget. You may decide yourself which data are more appropriate.
The following chart shows the same data of some other important or highly discussed countries. No, there is no trick, their annual budget is actually such small.
Military expenses per person per annum
But what statistical value do absolute numbers have? It is not our intention to compare military strength (as stated above) rather than showing the consequences of the military budget on the individual citizen. Thus, the next charts present the annual average contribution (2005) to the military budget of a country's individual citizen (the military budget divided by the size of a country's population).
Military expenses in relation to the average income
The charts above depend on absolute figures. They do not show that a Dollar e.g. in China has a much greater value than in Germany.
To the Modest Appeal for Education