The Make America Great Again (MAGA) Military
Trump plans to boost annual U.S. defense spending by more than Russia’s entire defense budget.
March 13, 2017
1. Only one NATO country spent more than 3% of its GDP on defense in 2016 — the United States.
2. The United States spent 3.3% of its GDP on defense-related expenditures, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS).
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3. It has been declining from a recent peak, 4.7%, in 2010 under President Obama, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
4. The drop after 2010 reflects reduced operations in Afghanistan and Iraq and budget cuts in Washington, all coming after that year.
5. Russia’s defense spending today (3.7% of GDP, according to IISS) exceeds that of every other NATO nation including the United States.
6. However, given that Russia accounts for a little less than 2% of world GDP, Russia’s defense spending is much lower in absolute terms.
7. In 2016, the United States spent $604.5 billion on defense, about thirteen times Russia’s $46.6 billion, according to IISS.
8. President Trump’s latest announcement on the military is that he plans to increase the U.S. defense budget by $56 billion annually.
9. This means that the planned yearly increase alone is larger than Russia’s entire defense budget.
10. Crisis-torn Greece actually ranks second among NATO countries in terms of defense spending as a percentage of GDP, at 2.4%.
11. That figure has not changed much during the recent years, despite heavy budget-tightening pressures on Greece from international lenders and the European Union.
Sources: The Globalist Research Center, the International Institute for Strategic Studies, World Bank and the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.