[B]latest SIPRI 2011 World Military Expenditure - $1.7tn [/B]

[LalTopi]

The UK Guardian has got a very useful sortable table of the latest military expenditure by country.

Military spending: how much does the military cost each country, listed | News | guardian.co.uk

The source data is from SIPRI - Stokholm International Peace Research Institute, so you may not agree with their methodology, but makes for some interesting reading. Some highlights are:

1. The world's countries spent $1.7tn on their militaries last year
2. the US is still number one, but with China and Russia catching up fast
3. The US remains by far the biggest military spender, with a defence budget of $711bn last year, followed by China, which spent an estimated $143bn on its armed forces in 2011. China has increased its military spending by 170% in real terms since 2002,
4. Russia spent nearly $72bn on arms last year, overtaking Britain ($62.7bn) and France ($62.5bn). Russia is planning further increases, with draft budgets showing a 53% rise in real terms up to 2014
5. India has increased military spending by 66% since 2002. Currently at $48.8bn (??)
6. Vietnam has increased military spending by 82% since 2003 (good for them)