Much of the U.S. defense budget is salaries. When you realize that wages in the U.S. are much higher than in China, it quickly becomes apparent that the gap between the U.S. and China is much smaller than it appears.
Edit 2022: It's likely that China now has a larger effective military spending than the U.S.
Missed Taiwan and Turkey. I must be one of the few people who use this site to test my general knowledge, learn new facts and FOR FUN. I've got a headache after reading all the previous comments!
A defense budget of world conquest proportions. And if kalbah is taking about USA making sure other parts of the world are consistently in disarray and unstable than I guess that is there responsibility. It is reasonable to be imperialistic eh.
::snore:: Bigoted American-bashing nonsense and ludicrously flimsy conspiracy theories that maintain the USA does the opposite of what it actually does aside (as declassified documents, leaked cables, and testimony from numerous whistle blowers have proven)... there is good reason why the period of relative global stability and peace of the last 70 years are referred to by intelligent people as the Pax Americana. and yes, the USA does shoulder enormous responsibility, as clearly evinced by the fact that they catch enormous flak for every decision they make to intervene, in any capacity, in any event around the world; while at the same time catching enormous flak for every decision they make to NOT intervene, in any capacity, in any event around the world. Some scenarios involving the sudden absence of the US on the world stage are as horrifying as they are probably inevitable. These things *should* be so completely obvious I feel pedantic having to mention them.
I think this quiz has more nonsensical comments than any other on the Jetpunk listing. All the individuals arguing the point above have their own agenda and support their beliefs with half truths, lies, myths, urban myths, propaganda and pure nonsense. No wonder the UN is impossible to organise.
598 billion dollars is ridiculous.. the USA should really stop playing policeman of the world. Every time when they remove a dictator from a country, something worse comes. Not every country is ready for a democracy.
America can better take away 300 billion of dollar and put it in the economy and infrastructure
As there are 196 recognised nations on our planet, with troops in approximately 150 of them, the U.S.A clearly has to spend a fortune. Spreading freedom through war for decades! It is all about protecting the petro dollar.
All of these silly comments complaining about the USA's influence in the world, and nobody else is alarmed by how far up in the ranks Saudi Arabia has moved? You think the Americans are bad when you've got that as an alternative? To say nothing of China, Russia, India or North Korea. If the US went away and the top three military powers in the world were the PRC, the KSA, and Russia... yeah that would be much better.
I suppose I was. I can't recall what exactly I was thinking 5 years ago when I wrote that, but if forced to guess, maybe just that India has not done a great job of maintaining harmonious relations with its many neighbors. With Modi in charge right now they don't even seem to be doing a great job of maintaining harmony with themselves. Also they're in the top 5 biggest spenders along with the other countries named.
But anyway the overall point was that there are few countries on this list that I think anyone would honestly feel any better about having as global military hegemon than the US. Maybe Canada wouldn't be so bad.
What about Australia? Is the world afraid that if Australia becomes the global military hegemony we'll spread Vegemite throughout the world and invade any who refuse it?
Most of the best funded military powers are stable at home, though. They're all about furthering the interests of their government abroad, by hook or by crook.
I'm surprised Israel has to spend any money at all on the military. A significant minority of the US Congress are dual citizens who put Israel's interests before America's
It's a common misconception that the United States bankrolls the Israeli military; or, an even more egregious misconception- that Israel doesn't have its own military and it's actually the US that fights its wars for it. I've encountered some people who believe the latter.
This misconception is almost entirely disconnected from reality. Israelis have been defending themselves since the creation of their nation and Americans have never been as crucial to that as many believe. Prior to May 1948 it was the Czechs who were Israel's biggest arms supplier, though Israelis were manufacturing munitions and weapons themselves in secret under the noses of the British occupiers. After independence, France became the nation's most important ally. It wasn't really until the 1960s that the US began to intervene more in Israeli affairs- and it often wasn't on the side of the Israelis! When Israel conspired with France and the UK to capture the Sinai from Egypt, it was the USA that forced them
to return it. When Syria and Egypt launched a surprise unprovoked invasion of Israel on Yom Kippur, and in a matter of days were stymied, repulsed, beaten into retreat- when Israel's armies were within striking distance of seizing both Cairo and Damascus, it was the USA that negotiated peace and made them go back.
The US does give money to Israeli defense. And some non-military aid, as well. But the amount of money they give is a drop in the bucket next to Israel's total defense budget. It's also much smaller than the total amount of aid the US gives to all of nearby Arab and Muslim countries and Palestine.
US politicians talk a lot about Israeli security. But that's not because they care so much about it, usually. It's because Florida is a swing state and it's full of old Jews who have nothing better to do on election day than go out and vote. Only once in a long while does someone get into office so dumb as to confuse rhetoric with real policy, like the current president.
Got them all (including Algeria which was a random guess) except for Canada, because I wouldn't have thought of them whatsoever. I'm shocked that many more obvious choices, such as the more militarised South American countries along the likes of Colombia would be on the list.
Lives and bullets are cheap. The countries who show up on this list spend more on technology and sophisticated military hardware than Colombia can afford to, even if Colombia is more militarized.
With Donald Trump at the helm with his tiny, money grabbing hands, I am getting worried about the increases in American defence spending, especially now he's unilaterally decided to pull out of the Iran nuclear deal. Trump might be the catalyst that starts a major international war. The capability to win it doesn't help those who'll die.
No wonder America has no money for health care and education. Maybe if they didn't invade countries for no reason at all (i.e. Iraq) they might have money to make life better for people in the country. The idea that other countries can spend less on the military because America spends more and has their backs is false. Other countries (wealthy western countries) spend less because they don't start unnecessary wars with others and they don't anger other countries who then threaten them (North Korea, Russia.) Having said all of that, the biggest threat today is not missiles, it's cyber attacks and as we have seen first hand, the current US admin. isn't doing much about it.
The absence of Pakistan surprised me. They've been preparing to annihilate India for decades. Also they're one of the most populous countries in the world, so they should have some money to spend.
Yeah our military spending may not be much in numbers but in percentage, it is around 20% of the yearly budget. However, despite that, our military is still one of the most professional and well-equipped in the world. Also, to answer Lilylee, we haven't been preparing to annihilate India for decades. We prepare only for the situation in which we have to defend (and counter attack) but never offence.
Among South Asians, there's a popular conception that Pakistan's obsession with its military is what's holding it back--that their funding of the military prevents money from going to welfare, development, etc and just fuels conflict that further destabilizes the country. While I can't definitely say this whether this is true or not, it's interesting to note that, 50 years ago, Pakistan was probably the richest and most industrialized South Asian country. Now, it's the poorest and least stable (unless you count Afghanistan as South Asian).
Yeah lol, Sri Lanka is definitely the worst now. It's also a similar story to Pakistan though, it went from one of the richest country in South Asia to the poorest. I hope the situation there improves soon, although given what has happened today it seems like things are going to get worse before they get better.
I'm from the Netherlands and I would've never guessed us to be on here. Our army isn't that great and a lot of people complain we don't spend enough on our army.
It's kinda funny that our (Australia's) spending is barely under the spending of Brazil, despite our country only having a 10th of the population of them. I'm willing to bet most of our spending is on long-range technologies, rather than infantry (personnel) costs.
Kind of surprised Taiwan fell off the list. They're probably more threatened than ever, and they've got the money. I mean, why is Canada spending at least twice as much as Taiwan? Is Ottawa worried we're coming up Lake Champlain?
"Edit 2022: It's likely that China now has a larger effective military spending than the U.S." - Quizmaster
I'd be interested to know where this is coming from. Taking the PPP conversion factor implied by the IMF's GDP figures (1.5158) gives an adjusted Chinese military budget of $444 billion, still barely over half of the US's figure (the US is the PPP benchmark, so its numbers don't change). I know it's generally believed that China's expenditure is higher than reported, but I think the SIPRI figures take that into account. Jane's reports the official budget as $US229.5 billion. Is there something I'm missing?
Amused myself by scrolling through the comments - some people need to crack open a few history books. However, using total spent may not be the most accurate. Western nations tend to have higher cost - labor, energy, etc so percentage of GDP or per capita might be better. Both are quizzes on Jetpunk. Per capita the US still scores 4th but by percentage of GDP, it slips down to 10th.
Above in the comments, there was a discussion on the War of 1812. Canada views the war as an invasion. It considers the successful defence of the colonies as a victory. However, it also changed the perception of English speaking colonists. Mostly Loyalists refugees from the US, they viewed themselves as British Americans living in British North American. At the end of the war which they fought alongside the French-speaking Canadiens, they viewed themselves like their French neighbours as Canadians not British nor American. Studying in the US, I learned the US viewed the war as continuation of the American revolution due to the British failure to adhere to the Treaty of Paris plus the British ignoring US sovergnty on the high seas. By 1814, the Brits agreed to follow the Treaty of Paris and the British Navy would behave themselves. Plus the Napoleonic wars were over and the British no longer needed sailors. For UK history, this was a mere sideshow.
South Korea has a larger population and larger economy than Australia and is right next to a hostile and unpredictable, nuclear-armed neighbour with over a million troops under arms. I would say that is not so much surprising as it is... exactly what one would expect.
Edit 2022: It's likely that China now has a larger effective military spending than the U.S.
Also I use this for fun (yes I know I’m a nerd)
America can better take away 300 billion of dollar and put it in the economy and infrastructure
But anyway the overall point was that there are few countries on this list that I think anyone would honestly feel any better about having as global military hegemon than the US. Maybe Canada wouldn't be so bad.
This misconception is almost entirely disconnected from reality. Israelis have been defending themselves since the creation of their nation and Americans have never been as crucial to that as many believe. Prior to May 1948 it was the Czechs who were Israel's biggest arms supplier, though Israelis were manufacturing munitions and weapons themselves in secret under the noses of the British occupiers. After independence, France became the nation's most important ally. It wasn't really until the 1960s that the US began to intervene more in Israeli affairs- and it often wasn't on the side of the Israelis! When Israel conspired with France and the UK to capture the Sinai from Egypt, it was the USA that forced them
The US does give money to Israeli defense. And some non-military aid, as well. But the amount of money they give is a drop in the bucket next to Israel's total defense budget. It's also much smaller than the total amount of aid the US gives to all of nearby Arab and Muslim countries and Palestine.
US politicians talk a lot about Israeli security. But that's not because they care so much about it, usually. It's because Florida is a swing state and it's full of old Jews who have nothing better to do on election day than go out and vote. Only once in a long while does someone get into office so dumb as to confuse rhetoric with real policy, like the current president.
funding it with: oil.
usa: what weapons you got
shop: umm we have guns, grenades, ta-
usa: we'll take it all
I'd be interested to know where this is coming from. Taking the PPP conversion factor implied by the IMF's GDP figures (1.5158) gives an adjusted Chinese military budget of $444 billion, still barely over half of the US's figure (the US is the PPP benchmark, so its numbers don't change). I know it's generally believed that China's expenditure is higher than reported, but I think the SIPRI figures take that into account. Jane's reports the official budget as $US229.5 billion. Is there something I'm missing?