ARMS: Military Budgets Rise in Poor Countries

By Jim Lobe Reprint | | Print |

Jim Lobe

WASHINGTON, Sep 25 1997 (IPS) - Developing countries, as a percentage of their national production, are spending as much on their military budgets as wealthy, industrialised countries. The percentage of people serving in the armed forces of the industrialised countries, however, is twice that of poor countries, according to a new report released here this week by the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (ACDA).

In 1995, for every 1,000 citizens in developed nations, an average of 6.6 served in the armed forces – compared to the 3.3 average in developing countries, according to the latest in the annual series, ‘World Military Expenditures and Arms Transfers, 1996’.

Reflecting a greater investment in technology, developed countries spent seven times more than poor countries on each of their soldiers. In 1995 developed nations spent an average of 87,100 dollars in arms and effort per soldier in their armed forces, while poor countries spent only 13,000 dollars, the report said.

World military spending, however, continued to decline for the eighth consecutive year to reach 864 billion dollars in 1995 – a 34 percent drop from the all-time global high of 1.36 trillion dollars in 1987. The reduction was due mainly to the continuing drop in the military budgets of developed countries, which the study defined as Western Europe, Canada, the United States, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Australia, and New Zealand.

On the other hand, developing countries, especially in South America, and South, Central and East Asia, reversed five consecutive years of declines in their military budgets, spending roughly 200 billion dollars on arms and armies in 1995. “This suggests the decline in the developing group (of nations) …may be drawing to a close or reversing direction,” according to the 192-page report.

The biggest increases in regional military budgets over 1991- 1995 took place in the conflict-ridden former Soviet states of Central Asia and the Caucusus, where spending increased by 6.3 percent over the period, and in South America which recorded an increase of 5.2 percent.

The sudden spurt in arms imports to South America in 1995, totalling 1.3 billion dollars, almost tripled the 1994, according to the report. Chile, Brazil, Peru, and Ecuador led the way, accounting for well over 75 percent of arms imports to the region from 1993 to 1995.

To assess the military burden on regions and countries, the new report used a number of different measures, half of which suggested that the Middle East is the most militarised region in the world.

For every 1,000 people in the Middle East, 10.7 are serving in the armed forces, compared with a global average of only four per 1,000. The lowest ratios are found in South Asia and Africa, where the comparable figures are 1.7 and 1.9, respectively. Country-by- country, however, North Korea tops the list, with 44 people in uniform for every 1,000 population. It is followed by Israel (35); Jordan (27), and Syria (21).

Developed, and developing, countries spend roughly the same percentage of their gross domestic product (GDP) on their military budgets: 2.8 percent. But the Middle East spends 7.9 percent of its GDP on defence, followed by Eastern Europe (6.7 percent), and North Africa (4.1 percent).

Lowest in this category are Central America and the Caribbean at 1.3 percent, Sub-Saharan Africa (1.7 percent), and East Asia and South America (1.8 percent). North Korea, all of the new countries of the former Yugoslavia (except Slovenia), Oman, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, and Russia spent more than ten percent of their GNP on the military in 1995, according to the report.

Middle Eastern countries also spent the most of any region on their defence budgets expressed as a percentage (24 percent) of their central government expenditures, according to the report. The global average for 1995 was only 10 percent.

In addition to the Middle East, governments in North America (16 percent), South Asia (15 percent), and North Africa (11 percent) spent more than 10 percent of their total budgets on their militaries. Overall, developed countries averaged nine percent (compared to 18 percent in 1985), while developing countries averaged 13 percent, according to the report.

In the amount of money spent per capita on military budgets, developed countries as a whole far exceeded that of developing countries. The average developed country citizen contributes 580 dollars to arms budgets; in the developing world, that falls to only 44 dollars.

The regions which spend the least per capita on arms include sub-Saharan Africa (seven dollars), South Asia (11 dollars), and Central America and the Caribbean (20 dollars).

Broken down by country, Kuwait spends the most on arms per capita (1,919 dollars), followed by Israel (1,646 dollars), Singapore (1,191 dollars), the United States (1,056 dollars), and Saudi Arabia (919 dollars) top the list. They in turn are followed by Brunei, France, Oman and three western countries with pacifist reputations – Norway, Switzerland, and Sweden.

The greatest disparities between rich and poor countries show up in the measure of the dollar amount spent on military budgets per every soldier in the armed forces.

Twelve countries spent more than 100,000 dollars per soldier in 1995, topped by Japan (210,000 dollars), Kuwait (175,000 dollars), Switzerland (174,000 dollars), the United States (172,000 dollars), and Australia (143,000 dollars), the report said.

Among developing-country regions, South America led the list, spending 25,000 dollars for each of its soldiers, followed by East Asia (23,000 dollars), and the Middle East (21,000 dollars). Africa brought up the rear in its spending per soldier at only 3,800 dollars.