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The Russian Military-Industrial Complex by the Numbers

Only the United States sells more arms than Russia.

May 23, 2018

1. Russia had the world’s third-largest defense spending in dollar terms in 2016, at $69.2 billion.

2. The first-ranked United States still spends nearly nine times more than Russia, however. China spends more than three times as much as Russia.

3. However, as a share of GDP, Russia does spend more on defense (5.3%) than any NATO member country (including the United States), as of 2016 data.

4. In terms of personnel, Russia has the fifth-largest number of active-duty troops (831,000).

5. Russia ranks second worldwide for global arms sales by value – $6.4 billion accounting for 21% of all sales in 2016.

6. Only the United States sells more arms than Russia.

Sources: SIPRI, IISS, The Globalist Research Center

Takeaways

Russia had the world’s third-largest defense spending in dollar terms in 2016, at $69.2 billion.

In terms of personnel, Russia has the fifth-largest number of active-duty troops (831,000).