In its latest edition, “Defense News” ranks Israel 17th in a list of the world’s top 25 defense spenders in absolute terms (not as a percentage of GDP). The list is based on updated information from the CIA’s “World Fact Book” and from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). The two sources largely coincide with official data from the relevant countries. Most of the figures in the list, including those for Israel, refer to 2005.
“Defense News” says Israel’s military expenditure was $9.44 billion in 2005, almost half of Russia’s military budget. Only one Arab state made the top 25 list, Saudi Arabia, with a defense budget of $18 billion, in 11th place. Iran, with $4.3 billion in military spending in 2005, did not make the top 25. (Argentina, with a similar military budget, is in last place).
The US tops the list, with a military budget of $518.1 billion in 2005, more than six times second placed China, which spent $81.47 billion on its military. They were followed, in descending order, by France ($45 billion), Japan ($44.31 billion), the UK ($42.84 billion), Germany ($35.06 billion), Italy ($28.18 billion), South Korea ($21.05 billion), Russia ($21 billion), and India, in tenth place ($19.04 billion).
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on September 13, 2006
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