Amilitary budget(ormilitary expenditure), also known as adefense budget,is the amount offinancial resourcesdedicated by astateto raising and maintaining anarmed forcesor other methods essential for defense purposes.
Financing militaries
editMilitary budgets often reflect how strongly a country perceives the likelihood of threats against it, or the amount of aggression it wishes to conjure. It also gives an idea of how much financing should be provided for the upcoming fiscal year. The size of a budget also reflects the country's ability to fund military activities.[1]Factors include the size of that country's economy, other financial demands on that entity, and the willingness of that entity's government or people to fund such military activity. Generally excluded from military expenditures is spending oninternal law enforcementand disabled veteran rehabilitation. The effects of military expenditure on a nation's economy and society, and what determines military expenditure, are notable issues inpolitical scienceandeconomics.Generally, some suggest military expenditure is a boost to local economies.[2]Still, others maintain military expenditure is a drag on development.[3]
Among the countries maintaining some of the world's largest military budgets,China,India,France,Germany,Japan,Russia,theUnited Kingdomand theUnited Statesare frequently recognized to begreat powers.[4]
In 2023, the United States spent 3.4% of its GDP on its military, whileChina1.7%,Russia5,9%,France2.1%,United Kingdom2.3%,India2.4%,Israel5.3%,South Korea2.8% andGermanyspent 1.5% of its GDP on defense.[5]
According to theStockholm International Peace Research Institute,in 2023, total world military expenditure amounted to US$2.443 trillion. It increased 6.8 percent[6]over the previous year. With theRusso-Ukrainian War,European expenditures rose by 16 percent.[7]
Historic expenditure
edit
TheSaturday Reviewmagazine in February 1898 outlined the levels of military expenditure as a percentage oftax revenuespent by the thengreat powersfor the year 1897:[8]
- United States:17%.The United States has fluctuated for decades, depending on the conflict of the time. The first spike in defense spending, and in turn taxes, came during the very beginning of the 19th century.[9]During World War I, the United States spent 22% of gross domestic product, while during peacetime, the government spent on as little as 1% Gross Domestic Product (GDP).[10]This changed following World War II as the United States government were experiencing an immense fear of the expansion of communism and therefore heightened security on all fronts. This was supported by Americans as it brought upon them a sense of security and the 3.6% GDP they were contributing to was a large decrease from the whopping amounts of capital being spent during WWII that exceeded 41%, before decreasing to 10% during the Cold War and for about two more decades after, including the Vietnam War, before beginning to decrease in the 1970s down to 6%, then 5.5% in 1979 before beginning to steadily incline once again.[10][9]After 2001, though, and the September 11 terrorist attacks, defense spending spiked again, peaking at 5.7% in 2010.[10]
- Russian Empire:21%
- French Third Republic:27%
- British Empire:39%
- German Empire:43%
- Empire of Japan:55%
See also
edit- List of countries by military expenditures
- Past military expenditure by country
- List of countries by military expenditure per capita
- Arms industry
- History of military technology
- Military–industrial complex
- List of countries by Global Militarization Index
- List of countries in Europe by military expenditures
References
edit- ^Statistics on Defense Expenditures in the U.S. per Capita, 1990-2011,NATO, April 2012.
- ^Hicks, Louis; Curt Raney (2003). "The Social Impact of Military Growth in St. Mary's County, Maryland, 1940-1995".Armed Forces & Society.29(3): 353–371.doi:10.1177/0095327x0302900303.S2CID145097214.
- ^Nef, J.U. (1950).War and Human Progress.Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
- ^Baron, Joshua (22 January 2014).Great Power Peace and American Primacy: The Origins and Future of a New International Order.United States: Palgrave Macmillan.ISBN978-1137299482.
- ^Nan Tian, Diego Lopes da Silva, Xiao Liang and Lorenzo Scarazzato."Trends in world military expenditure 2023"(PDF).Sipri.org.p. 2.Retrieved2024-08-01.
{{cite web}}:CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^Nan Tian, Diego Lopes da Silva, Xiao Liang and Lorenzo Scarazzato."Trends in world military expenditure 2023"(PDF).Sipri.org.p. 1.Retrieved2024-08-01.
{{cite web}}:CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^Nan Tian, Diego Lopes da Silva, Xiao Liang and Lorenzo Scarazzato."Trends in world military expenditure 2023"(PDF).Sipri.org.p. 6.Retrieved2024-08-01.
{{cite web}}:CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^Harris, Frank, ed. (February 1898).Saturday Review Magazine.
- ^abBorch, Casey, and Michael Wallace. "Military Spending and Economic Well-Being in the American States: The Post-Vietnam War Era". Social Forces, vol. 88, no. 4, 2010, pp. 1727–1752. Oxford University Press,doi:10.1353/sof.0.0268.Accessed 15 October 2017.
- ^abcChantrill, Christopher. "What Is the Total US Defense Spending?" US Government Defense Spending History with Charts - a Www.usgovernmentspending Briefing, American Thinkers, 17 July 2011, usgovernmentspending /defense_spending
External links
edit- Barnum, Miriam; Fariss, Christopher J.; Markowitz, Jonathan N.; Morales, Gaea (2024). "Measuring Arms: Introducing the Global Military Spending Dataset".Journal of Conflict Resolution.
- Becker, Jordan; Benson, Seth; Dunne, J Paul; Malesky, Edmund (2024). "Disaggregated defense spending: Introduction to data".Journal of Peace Research.
- Hicks, Louis; Raney, Curt."The Social Impact of Military Growth in St. Mary's County, Maryland, 1940-1995".Armed Forces & Society.29:3.
- Hicks, Louis; Raney, Curt."African Countries' Military expenditure since 1960".The African Onlooker.29:3.