Home > WORLD MILITARY SPENDING CLOSE TO $1 TRILLION IN 2003
The world spent nearly $1 trillion US on weapons in 2003,
with the U.S. accounting for almost half of the total, according to a
Swedish research institute.
Military spending increased by a "remarkable" 11 per cent year-on-year to
$956 billion said the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute in
its Yearbook 2004, released Wednesday.
It added to a cumulative increase of 18 per cent over military spending
in 2001, the year of the September 11 attacks on the U.S.
FROM JUNE 5, 2004: Defence, security spending fuel Bush’s trillion-
dollar budget The institute said the spending - equal to 2.7 per cent
of the world’s gross domestic product - was close to the Cold War
peak of 1987.
FROM JUNE 5, 2004: Former U.S. president Ronald Reagan dead But the
number of conflicts worldwide fell to 19, the second lowest since the
think tank began issuing its reports 35 years ago.
The U.S. accounted for 47 per cent of the total as it paid for military
missions around the globe, with the biggest "war on terrorism"-related
actions in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Japan followed with five per cent, and Britain, France and China with
four per cent each.
The Swedish institute’s figures were in line with estimates from London-
based Jane’s Information Group, which publishes the industry magazine
Jane’s Defence Weekly, according to the Associated Press.