Military expenditure today.

World military expenditure in 2006 amounted to $1,204 billion at current prices. This sum corresponds to 2.5 percent of world gross domestic product (GDP) and $184 per capita in current prices. However, there is a wide variation between countries and regions as regards GDP shares and per capita figures.

The highest growth rates in the post-9/11 period took place in 2003, when world military spending increased by 7.2 percent. In 2004 the growth rate was 5.5 per cent and in 2005 it was 4.4 per cent, while SIPRI's estimate for 2006 shows an increase of 3.5 per cent in real terms.

According to the shares of world military spending by region, North America is the largest spender with 47 per cent of the world total in 2006, followed by Western Europe with 22 per cent, and Asia with 15 per cent. Together these three regions account for 84 per cent of world military spending.

Among the regions with less than 10 per cent of the world total, the Middle East is the largest spender, with 6 per cent of the world total. However, for the Middle East, data are not available for Iraq, so this figure is an underestimate. In addition, Eastern Europe and Latin America each account for 3 per cent of the world total, while Central Europe, Oceania and Africa each account for I per cent of the world total.

Global and regional trends are greatly influenced by a few major spenders. The top 15 spenders accounted for 83 per cent of world military spending in 2006. The United States alone accounts for 46 per cent of the world total, while the next four spenders in size--the United Kingdom, France, China and Japan--each account for 4-5 per cent of the total. Together, these five countries account for 63 per cent of the world total. The next 10 in size account for another 20 per cent, and the rest of the world (about 150 countries in all) for the remaining 17 per cent of world military expenditure. The USA's large share of military spending in the world total (46 per cent) has a significant impact on the world trend.

Since 1988 military expenditure in the USA has very closely followed the world trend in military spending. US military spending reached cold war levels already in 2004 and SIPRI's estimate for 2006 shows a 9 per cent higher level of spending in real terms than in 1988. Since 2001 US military expenditure has increased by 53 per cent in real terms.

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