Global military spending hits almost $1.5 trillion in 2008 - study
11:12, 9 June 2009
STOCKHOLM. June 9. KAZINFORM Global military spending totaled $1.464 trillion last year, a real-term increase of 45% from a decade ago and 4% rise year-on-year, a prominent political think tank said on Monday; Kazinform refers to RIA Novosti.
The figures were published in the SIPRI Yearbook 2009, released by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute on Monday.
This year's edition said the current amount of military spending corresponded to 2.4% of world gross domestic product (GDP), or $217 a year for every person in the world.
U.S. military spending totaled $607 billion in 2008, and accounted for about 42% of the
world total.
According to SIPRI, Russia occupies 5th place in the list of "big spenders" with an annual defense budget estimated to be $58.6 bln, although Russia officially announced a smaller sum of about $43 bln; Kazinform cites RIA Novosti.
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