WASHINGTON, Feb 11: South Asia had the highest average annual growth rate in military expenditure of any region in the 1990s, with five per cent. Its share of world military spending more than doubled (from 0.8 per cent to two per cent), reflecting the military buildup between India and Pakistan.
A State Department report released on Monday says India, which is the world’s second most populous country, also has the world’s third largest military, after China and the United States.
India also has developed the capacity to strike at China and Pakistan with its own missiles, and, like Pakistan, is believed to possess nuclear weapons.
To compete with a much larger India, Pakistan had to spend 2,545.5 million dollars on defence in 2001, which was 4.6 per cent of GDP.
But the blame for this shopping spree does not rest with the poor nations alone. The report indicates that arms traders are equally responsible for arming the poor with weapons of self- destruction. The United States continued to be the largest exporter of arms in the previous decade, followed by Western Europe.
Developing countries reached an all-time high in 1999 with 245 billion dollars spent on their militaries. This was a three per cent increase over the previous year and an 18 per cent increase over the 1989 level.
Military spending of developed countries grew two per cent in 1999, ending a continuous decline throughout the decade to the 1998 post-Cold-War low. The 1999 level was 45 per cent below that in 1989.
North America accounted for the largest regional portion, or 34 per cent, of the 1999 world military spending, with the US alone accounting for 13 per cent. Western Europe with 22 per cent had the second largest share.
World arms trade grew 8.5 per cent in 1999 to 51.6 billion dollars. This was 19 per cent above the post-Cold War low in 1994, though still 40 per cent below the all-time high reached in 1987.
Developed nations’ arms exports in 1999 were 96 per cent of the world’s, 20 per cent above the 1994 post-Cold-War low, 24 per cent below the 1989 level, and 36 per cent below the all-time peak in 1987.
The number of people serving in the world’s armed forces fell 26 per cent over the decade to 21.3 million in 1999. The six largest forces (in thousands) were China 2,400, United States 1,490, India 1,300, North Korea 1,000, Russia 900, and Turkey 789.
