Global military expenditure:
2006 figures now available

12 June 2007

SIPRI’s annual compendium of data and analysis of developments in security and conflicts, military spending and armaments and non-proliferation, arms control and disarmament was launched at a press conference in Stockholm last night. Below is a summary of the contents - more information, chapter summaries and details of how to order a copy of the 2007 Yearbook 'Armaments, Disarmament and International Security' are on this web site.

On military spending and trade in weapons: "SIPRI reports that world military expenditure in 2006 was $1204 billion in current dollars, a 3.5 per cent increase since 2005. In the period 1997-2006 world military expenditure rose by 37 per cent. The continued surge in China’s military spending - which reached an estimated $49.5 billion (in 2005 dollars) - saw it overtake Japan ($43.7 billion) to become the biggest military spender in Asia and the fourth biggest in the world in 2006. India was the third biggest spender in Asia, with $23.9 billion (in 2005 dollars). The USA spent $528.7 billion and Russia an estimated $34.7 billion (in 2005 dollars) on their military sectors in 2006.

"It is worth asking how cost-effective military expenditure is as a way of increasing the security of human lives, if we talk about avoiding premature deaths and disability due to current dangers. For example, we know that millions of lives could be saved through basic health interventions that would cost a fraction of what the world spends on military forces every year," says SIPRI Military Expenditure and Arms Production Programme Leader Elisabeth Sköns

Almost 50 per cent more conventional weapons, by volume, were transferred internationally in 2006 than in 2002, according to data gathered by SIPRI. China and India were the largest importers of weapons. The USA and Russia were the largest weapon suppliers.

"The USA and the European Union countries continue to supply vast quantities of arms to the Middle East, despite the knowledge that it is a highly volatile region," comments Siemon Wezeman, SIPRI Arms Transfers Project Leader.""

Contents: the 38th edition of the SIPRI Yearbook analyses developments in 2006 in security and conflicts, military spending and armaments and non-proliferation, arms control and disarmament with extensive annexes on arms control and disarmament agreements and a chronology of security- and arms control-related events.

Special studies in this volume: a world of risk; Euro-Atlantic security and institutions; major armed conflicts; collective violence beyond the standard definition of armed conflict; peacekeeping; regional security cooperation in the former Soviet area; democratic accountability of intelligence services; energy and security; analysing risks to human lives; world military expenditure; arms production; international arms transfers; towards an arms trade treaty; reflections on continuity and change in arms control; UN Security Council Resolution 1540 and non-proliferation by means of international legislation; nuclear arms control, non-proliferation and world nuclear forces; nuclear explosions, 1945–2006; global stocks, production and elimination of fissile materials; chemical and biological weapon developments and arms control; conventional arms control; global efforts to control MANPADS; and controls on security-related international transfers.

The SIPRI Yearbook 2007 is published on behalf of SIPRI by Oxford University Press.