What’s New May 2012

This page lists changes to this site for May 2012.

See below for other updates and to get notified of changes to the site.

After a decline following the end of the Cold War, recent years — including during the global financial crisis from 2008 — have seen military spending increase

In recent years, global military expenditure has increased again and is now comparable to Cold War levels. Recent data shows global spending at over $1.6 trillion, despite the global economic conditions. It is still a 1.3% increase since 2008 when the financial crisis began, for example.

For some nations, they can increase their spending as they grow economically. For others, there are geopolitical interests at stake.

The highest military spender is the US accounting for 41% of the world’s spending, more than the next top 14 countries combined, and more than all its potential enemies, combined. But this represents a slight decline over previous years as other nations, especially China, increases spending and the US begins to very slightly feel budgetary pressures on its military spending.

This update includes updated figures, graphs and charts exploring this further.

You can also