US Defense Cuts

U.S. Defense Spending vs. Global Defense Spending

April 24, 2013

In 2012, the most recent year for which complete data is available, the U.S. approved $645.7 billion in defense budget authority (fiscal year 2013 dollars). This figure includes funding for the Pentagon base budget, Department of Energy-administered nuclear weapons activities, and the war in Afghanistan.

This number is six times more than China, 11 times more than Russia, 27 times more than Iran and 33 times more than Israel. Though China is often cited as the country’s next great military adversary, U.S. military spending currently doubles that of all of the countries in Asia combined. In 2012, the U.S. consumed 41 percent of total global military spending. The U.S. also remained in the top 10 highest spending countries as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), one widespread measure of military spending, trailing behind countries such as Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, and Israel, all of which have a significantly lower total military expenditure as well as a lower total GDP.^I

2012 Defense Expenditure^II
(budget authority in billions of current U.S. dollars)

Country or Region	2012 Spending
United States (including war and nuclear)	645.7
Asia	314.9
Europe	280.1
Middle East and North Africa	166.4
Russia and Eurasia	69.3
Latin America and The Caribbean	68.8
Sub-Saharan Africa	19.2
Canada	18.4
Global Total	1,582.8

Top Five Defense Budgets
(budget authority in billions of current U.S. dollars)

U.S. vs. Global Spending
(budget authority in billions of current U.S. dollars)

Countries of Interest
(budget authority in billions of current U.S. dollars)

Country	2012 Spending	Percent of GDP
United States (including war and nuclear)	645.7	4.12
Canada	18.4	1.04
China	102.4	1.24
Russia	59.9	3.06
United Kingdom	64.1	2.63
France	48.1	1.86
Germany	40.4	1.20
Japan	59.4	0.99
India	38.5	1.98
Italy	23.6	1.19
Brazil	35.3	1.45
Australia	25.1	1.63
Saudi Arabia	52.5	7.99
South Korea	29.0	2.52
Israel	19.4	7.85
Taiwan	10.3	2.21
Iran	23.9	4.95
North Korea	**	**
Pakistan	5.9	2.55
Venezuela	6.1	1.80
Iraq	14.7	11.28
Afghanistan	2.1	10.54
Oman	6.7	8.42
Jordan	1.8	5.6

^IU.S. figure includes funding for the Pentagon base budget, Department of Energy-administered nuclear weapons activities, and the war in Afghanistan. Data from Congressional Research Service, Office of Management and Budget, and International Institute for Strategic Studies.
^IIUnfortunately, there is no such thing as an agreed-upon international definition for “defense expenditure.” Many countries count spending differently and, in some cases, transparency is an issue.
The analysis above uses data from The Military Balance 2013, the authoritative reference almanac produced annually by the International Institute for Strategic Studies. Defense spending estimates for China and Russia, both of which regularly underreport their annual military budgets, have been reported using a methodology known as Purchasing Power Parity (PPP). The Military Balance typically uses market exchange rates to convert countries’ defense spending figures into U.S. dollars. In the case of China and Russia, however, the market exchange rates fail to fully reflect the purchasing power of the yuan and the ruble, respectively. To compensate for this, The Military Balance 2013 uses PPP. This allows for a more balanced calculation of the numbers. All of the figures for China and Russia in the analysis above use PPP figures, which are significantly higher than both officially reported and market exchange rate figures.
The bottom line is that this analysis uses the highest possible defense spending estimates for China and Russia.
^**The U.S. State Department estimates North Korean military spending at as much as a quarter of Gross National Product (GNP), with up to 20% of men ages 17-54 in the regular armed forces. Any publicly available estimates on DPRK defense spending are unreliable.