6. Military expenditure

Summary

NATO military spending continued to decline
in 1996, led by a reduction of almost 5% in the USA over 1995.
As NATO expenditure is the dominant component of overall world
military expenditure, it is clear that the decline in aggregate
global security expenditure noted in recent years was maintained
in 1996.

The 3 dominant spenders in South-East Asia,
Malaysia (an increase of more than 15%), Singapore (an increase
of 7%) and Thailand (an increase of almost 23%) maintained the
region's reputation as the fastest-growing defence spender in
1996. Despite the lack of comparable data for some important countries,
there is no evidence that defence spending has declined in the Middle
East since last year.

The levelling out of defence spending in South
Asia appears to have continued in 1996. However, the lack of growth
in official Indian defence spending in real terms distorts the
overall picture. Military expenditure grew in real terms by some
2% in Pakistan and by a staggering 29% in Sri Lanka in the same
period.

Appendix 6A. Tables of NATO military expenditure

Appendix 6B. Tables of military expenditure

PAUL GEORGE, AGNÈS COURADES ALLEBECK AND EVAMARIA LOOSE-WEINTRAUB

Appendices 6A and 6B
contain tables of NATO and world military expenditure.

Appendix 6C. Sources and methods

Appendix 6C explains the sources and methods for the data
collection.