The top 5 spenders for miliatry as % of GDP are are muslim nations

[typewriter]

This might be pretty old, but interesting nonethelss, as per CIA world factbook the top military as & of the GDP are all islamic nations based in the middle east. Interesting indeed.

Rank country (% of GDP) Date of Information



1 Oman 11.40 2005 est.

2 Qatar 10.00 2005 est.

3 Saudi Arabia 10.00 2005 est.

4 Iraq 8.60 2006

5 Jordan 8.60 2006

6 Israel 7.30 2006

7 Yemen 6.60 2006

8 Armenia 6.50 FY01

9 Eritrea 6.30 2006 est.

10 Macedonia 6.00 2005 est.



Pakistan is at 3%, China is at 4.3 and India 2.5

No wonder India is alarmed about china, cuz their numbers and % spend is also greater.

btw, Iceland is at ZERO. they don't seem to bother about any invading army.

 

[Patriot]

Well i don't blame Middle Eastern Nations.That part of the world is very violent.

 

[maverick2009]

China is 1.5% officially not 4.3%

 

[Gabbar]

^^ Officialy? maybe 1.5% but over 4% sounds most realistic. Chinese Government is not transparent about it's spending.

 

[EjazR]

I don't agree with the tag "muslim" nations. These countries don't have representative governments ( a demand that their population unanimously wants) even though they might be predominantly muslims. It would be more accurate to say "middle eastern" or "arab". However, comparing defence spending just in terms of % GDP is misleading.

To get a better comparison you should look at per capita defence spending, per square km spending as well as absolute spending. An interesting artcle about this quoted below.

Iran’s Defense Spending Per Capita Among Lowest In Mideast
Iran’s defense spending per capita among lowest in Mideast

13/01/08 -- -- LONDON (IRNA) -- Iran’s defense expenditure per capita remains among the lowest in the Middle East region despite having the second highest population behind Egypt, according to the new publication of Military Balance.

The 2008 edition said that Iran’s total defense spending for 2006, the latest available, was nearly 55 percent less that Israel’s, despite having ten times the population of the Zionist entity.

Per capita, Israeli regime’s expenditure was calculated to be nearly 17 times higher at an average of $1,737 per person compared with only $110 for each Iranian.

Israel’s military spending was shown to be the second highest in the world and only $59 per capita behind the U.S., excluding Qatar, which only has a population of less than one million.

Even as a proportion of GDP, Iran’s defense expenditure of 3.3 percent was found to be well less than half of Israel’s 7.9 percent, which is among the highest in the world and even more than the U.S.

Publishers of Military Balance, the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), reported that Tel Aviv had increased its proposed defense budget for 2007 following its invasion of Lebanon in the previous summer.

Under a new agreement with the U.S., it also said Washington was providing Israeli regime with a $30 billion package of Foreign Military Financing between 2009 and 2018, an increase amounting to around 25 percent more than in the previous ten-year period. article from IRNA quoted below to give perspective on Israeli and US defence allocations.