Essay Sample on Military Expenditure: Positively Related to War and GDP % Analysis

Introduction

Military expenditure is positively related to war. Research has shown that during times of peace and stability, most countries use less than 5% of their Gross Domestic Product on military services. In this analysis, we shall measure military expenditure as a percentage of GDP. There are various estimation ways for military spending. First, it can be measured in real terms. Second, it can be measured as a percentage of the GDP. Importance of military expenditure in real-time is that it shows the absolute level of spending for the outcome of the war. American uses 10% of its GDP in fighting a war, unlike other nations that employ close to 50% of their Gross Domestic Product. Nevertheless, expressing military expenditure in terms of Gross Domestic Product is essential as it allows one to handle priorities and assess the ambitions of a State.

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America and China are the largest spenders on military activities, but in a dollar to dollar comparison, the United States spends more than China. In 2018, the United States spent about 649 billion dollars on military alone, and this was according to a 2019 report published by (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute). This reflected an increase of 4.6% over the past several years.

From the graph above, since the year 2009, expenditure on military activities by the United States has been reducing over the years until 2018. Hence, it is correct to conclude that over the past ten years, the United States has been experiencing seasons of Peace. The military expenditure of a State is mostly determined by whether there is or no war. The constant fluctuation in the spending by 0.1% was realized in the year 2017 and 2018. However, the overall spending in 2018 remained lower as compared to 2009.

For Kenya, military expenditure dropped by 8.4% in 2018 to settle 39.2 billion dollars or 1.2% of global military spending. This was the highest relative decrease since the "post-cold war" peak seen in 2014. Despite years of decline, the expenditure on military remained high at 9.2% in 2018 higher than in 2009. Nonetheless, military spending in 2018 was 78% higher than in 2009. The decline in military expenditure by countries like Angola and Sudan contributed to the decrease in military expenditures for Africa.

The military expenditure in China was 250 billion dollars in the year 2018; this accounted for 14% of global military spending. Asia and Oceania have been the only region where annual growth in military expenditure has been continuous since 1988. The 46% increase in spending from the year 2009 to 2018 is by far the largest of any region. This increase is linked to a rise in China's spending, which accounted for 48% in the year 2018.

Similarly, the total military expenditure of France in 2018 increased by 1.5% to settle at 60.417 billion dollars France accounted for 3.5% of the universal army spending, and this has made it the third-largest spending country.

SIPRI has not been able to estimate the total military expenditure in 2014; this is because of the lack of data in specific regions. Nonetheless, the total combined military expenditure for countries in Iraq was 7.146 billion dollars. The overall spending of countries in this region increased every year between 2009 and 2015. A significant decrease later followed it in 2016. From there again, spending increased in 2017, but then declined by 1.9% in 2018.

America is by far the most significant military spender in the world, as it accounts for 36 percent of the world's total expenditure. Thus America spends almost as much as the next eight countries combined. One the other hand, China came in second on the list as it spends 250 billion dollars. This depicts a rising trend of 83% from 2009 to 2018. Together, China and the United States constitute half of the worlds military expenditure, more than the rest of the world combined. As a result, the significant and steady increase in spending by the two countries has increased the global military expenditure up by 2.6% from 2017.

Conclusion

In summary, total military expenditure in America reduced by 1.4%, France by 0.2%, China also by 0.2% in 2009-2018. The rise of military spending in America was the first since 2010. On the other hand, the decrease in France, which was characterized by experienced fluctuations in spending levels in 2009-2018, was the sixth yearly increase in the past 10years. In China, expenditure on military activities has decreased in some years, while others it remained constant since the availability of reliable regional estimates in 1988. In contrast, the military expenditure in Africa decreased for the fourth consecutive year in 2018. As a final point, the overall military spending by countries in the middle east (data was available in 2018) declined by 1.9%.

Bibliography

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