World Military Spending — Global Issues

Constant 2005 dollar values are used for comparing past years, where the the 2008 spending amount is over $1.2 trillion:

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Foreign policy objectives

Real or perceived threats

Armed conflict and policies to contribute to multilateral peacekeeping operations

Availability of economic resources

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Why does the US number seem so high when the budget announced $517.9 for the Department of Defense?

Unfortunately, the budget numbers can be a bit confusing. For example, the Fiscal Year budget requests for US military spending do not include combat figures (which are supplemental requests that Congress approves separately). The budget for nuclear weapons falls under the Department of Energy, and for the 2009 request, was about $29 billion.

The cost of war (Iraq and Afghanistan) is estimated to be about $170 billion for the 2009 spending alone. Christopher Hellman and Travis Sharp also discuss the US fiscal year 2009 Pentagon spending request and note that “Congress has already approved nearly $700 billion in supplemental funding for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and an additional $126 billion in FY'08 war funding is still pending before the House and Senate.”

Furthermore, other costs such as care for vetarans, healthcare, military training/aid, secret operations, may fall under other departments or be counted separately.

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2007 (in billions of dollars)2007 percent of federal funds budget

Source: 43% Percent of Your 2007 Taxes Go to War, Friends Committee on National Legislation, February 14, 2008

Current Military Spending59829%Cost of Past Wars28214%Total military percent43%Health Research & Services423.720.5%Responses to Poverty255.012.4%Interest on Non-Military Share of Federal Debt226.211%Government Operations138.96.6%Social Programs59.92.9%Science, Energy, & Environment53.72.6%Non-Military International Programs29.11.4%

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