Taps Coogan – September 25th, 2020

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The following two graphics, from Visual Capitalist, show military spending by countries around the world as of 2019.

First things first, the US spends quite a bit more on defense than the $732 billion defense budget shown above. To start, the US distributes billions in military aid every year to allies (and enemies) around the world. Then there is the alphabet soup of Federal agencies that are defense related but which don’t get grouped into the ‘Defense’ budget: Homeland Security. National Nuclear Security Administration, the VA, etc… The true budget varies depending what you count as ‘defense’ but it is probably north of $900 billion.

Second, China lies about it’s defense spending. The $261 billion figure above is an estimate by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. It’s likely a significant underestimation. Why? We often learn about massively expensive Chinese defense projects like aircraft carriers and nuclear submarines only when they show up in satellite images. Similar projects in the West are the result of decades of industry consultation and public debate. We know fairly accurately how many billions of dollars the US spent on White Elephants like the Zumwalt or the Littoral Combat Ship. Who knows how much China spent building 3,000 miles of underground bunkers (PDF) capable of storing and launching thousands of nuclear weapons, all of which Beijing denies having?

Keeping the inaccuracy of all these estimates in mind, Middle Eastern nations spend the most on defense as a percentage of GDP in the world. America’s protectorates, Japan and the EU, predictably spend the least.

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