HEY BIG SPENDER!

Friday, 08 February 2002 By Max Gross

U.S. MILITARY BUDGET STILL THE BIGGEST IN THE WORLD... AND GROWING!

GOOD OLD BOY PRESIDENT GEORGE (HIT ME!) BUSH IS ASKING CONGRESS TO APPROVE HIS $U.S.2.1 TRILLION DEFENCE SPENDING SPREE (THAT'S $4.1 TRILLION IN AUSTRALIA'S MONOPOLY MONEY).

"For 45 years of the Cold War we were in an arms race with the Soviet Union. Now it appears we're in an arms race with ourselves." - Admiral Eugene Carroll, Jr., U.S. Navy (Ret.) Deputy Director Center for Defense Information

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Selected Countries Military Budget:

United States $396.1 Billion
Russia* $60.0
China* $42.0
Japan $40.4
United Kingdom $34.0
Saudi Arabia $27.2
France $25.3
Germany $21.0
Brazil* $17.9
India $15.6
Italy $15.5
South Korea $11.8
Iran $9.1
Israel $9.0
Taiwan $8.2
Canada $7.7
Spain $6.9
Australia $6.6
Netherlands $5.6
Turkey $5.1
Poland $3.7
Greece $3.3
Pakistan $2.6
Norway $2.8
Kuwait $2.6
Denmark $2.4
Belgium $2.2
Colombia $2.1
Egypt $2.1
Vietnam $1.8
Iraq $1.4
North Korea $1.3
Portugal $1.3
Libya $1.2
Czech Republic $1.1
Philippines $1.1
Luxembourg $0.9
Hungary $0.8
Syria $0.8
Cuba $0.7
Sudan $0.6
Yugoslavia $0.5

Figures are for latest year available, usually 2001. Expenditures are used in a few cases where official budgets are significantly lower than actual spending.

* 2000 Funding

Table prepared by Center for Defense Information.

Sources: International Institute for Strategic Studies, Department of Defense