Which countries of the world spend more as a percentage of GDP on the military than the US?

[Union Thug]

I was in a discussion this evening and the topic of military spending came up. Someone threw out that the US doesn't spend as much on the military as a percentage of GDP as "some other nations," but those nations were not named.

Anyone know which ones?

[readmoreoften]

1. North Korea?

:shrug:

[redqueen]

2. Data from Wiki... FWIW

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_military_expenditures#List_of_countries_by_military_expenditure_as_a_percentage_of_GDP

[Common Sense Party]

3. North Korea, Georgia, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Jordan,

Israel, Yemen, Armenia, etc. Countries with a much smaller GDP than ours.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_military_expenditures

[Common Sense Party]

5. Another study with slightly different numbers and Top 25 countries:

http://www.fas.org/man/crs/RL32209.pdf

Page 22 of the .pdf (Page CRS-19 at top of page)

[harun]

9. I think that list is out of whack now. Take Saudi Arabia, they make

that many dollars in about one afternoon with the price of oil now. Same goes for the other oil producers.

Not that percentage of GDP is that relevant anyway.

[Union Thug]

4. Thanks everyone!

[Common Sense Party]

6. Interesting. Of the NATO countries, only Greece spends more

as a percentage of their GDP. Edit: Whoops! And Turkey. I missed them.

http://www.fas.org/man/crs/RL32209.pdf

Page 24 of the .pdf (CRS-21)

[Union Thug]

8. That's what I was thinking. The defense (which is what the guy was doing) of US spending using

percent of GDP is irrelevent. Those that are spending more per gdp first of all, have substantially smaller GDP, they tend to be in high conflict zones, and are spending as much as they do in an attempt to modernize their comparatively meager militaries.

It's like arguing that somehow I'm spending a great deal on dental care because a much larger percentage of my annual income goes to dental care than, for example, Bill Gates. It's apples and oranges. The comparisons need to be made agaisnt the major industrialized powers which in general, are spending much less in both real terms and in terms of percentage of GDP.

Again - thanks to DUers for pointing me in the right direction!

[ContinentalOp]

7. The percentage of GDP seems meaningless if you look at that list.

What about the per capita?

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-countries-have-the-highest-military-expenditures.htm

Also, what about the sheer dollar amount? In a war, it's not a matter of who spends the most in relation to their GDP. :eyes: