Introduction
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is the total monetary or market value of all the finished goods and services produced within a country’s borders in a specific time period. As a broad measure of overall domestic production, it functions as a comprehensive scorecard of the country’s economic health.
Military expenditure is the expenditure by a country’s government on their military forces, i.e. maintenance and operations, military research and development, Military aid, procurement, salaries, pensions, etc. World military spending refers to the aggregate global military spending by different countries - analysis of this data can help understand the status of a particular country as a military power in the world arena.
We will analyze military expenditure of 10 countries and their Gross Domestic Product (GDP). We additionally want to find trends and draw conclusions.
Comparing Military Expenditure and GDP:
We will compare Military Expenditure and GDP from 2014 to 2018 for the following 10 countries:
a. China:
China’s GDP and military expenditure follow a very closely related pattern and there is an increasing trend for GDP and Military Expenditure.
b. France
France’s GDP and military expenditure too follow a closely related pattern. There is a drop in GDP and military expenditure from 2014 to 2015 but then we observe an increasing trend from 2015 onwards.
c. Germany
Germany’s GDP and military expenditure also follow a closely related pattern. There is a drop in GDP and military expenditure from 2014 to 2015 but then we observe an increasing trend from 2015 onwards.
d. Israel
For Israel we notice that in the year 2016, its military expenditure decreased, but its GDP increased.
e. Italy
For Italy, we notice that the GDP and Military Expenditure was lowest in the year 2015, a possible reason for this could be the Great Recession which caused Italy’s debt to be at all time high.
f. Russian Federation
For Russian Federation we notice that the GDP and Military Expenditure is steadily decreasing, this could be due to the Russian Financial Crisis.
g. Saudi Arabia
For Saudi Arabia in the year 2015, its Military Expenditure was very high, a possible reason could be that Saudi Arabia was in a War with its neighboring country Yemen in this period.
h. South Korea
South Korea’s GDP and Military Expenditure are closely related and have an increasing trend.
i. United Kingdom
United Kingdom’s GDP and Military Expenditure are closely related and have an decreasing trend.
j. United States
United States has a steady increase in it’s GDP through the years.
Comparing Overall Military Expenditure by Country:
United States spent the highest amount of money on it’s Military Expenditure, close to 3 Trillion dollars. China was the ranked second highest in Military Expenditure and it’s value is just above 1 Trillion dollars. All other countries spent less than 0.5 Trillion dollars.
Comparing Overall Military Expenditure by Country (in percentages):
United States’ Military Expenditure is 50% of the global Military Expenditure. China, Saudi Arabia, Russian Federation, France and Germany have the next highest Military Expenditure in that order.
Comparing GDP per person and Military Expenditure per person:
We are comparing the GDP per person to Military Expenditure per person. China has smallest GDP with 10,000 dollars and United States has the highest GDP which is close to 60,000 dollars. China also has the least Military Expenditure per person and Saudi Arabia has the highest Military Expenditure per person.
Military Expenditure as a Share of GDP:
Almost all the countries allocate a consistent amount of their GDP for Military Expense, except for Saudi Arabia, Russian Federation and Israel.
Military Expenditure difference in absolute values:
We want to the country which has the fastest growing Military Expenditure, we compute this using absolute values over the years.
We observe that United States has the highest difference in their Military Expenditure for the years 2017-2018, this is followed by China and Germany.
Military Expenditure difference in percentages:
We want to the country which has the fastest growing Military Expenditure, we compute this using percentage difference over the years.
We find that South Korea has the highest percentage difference in its Military Expenditure for the years 2017-2018 of about 10%, this is followed by China and Germany.
Conclusion
In conclusion we can say that GDP and Military Expenditure are a very good metric to assess how well a country is performing. United States has the highest Military Expenditure and also has a very strong GDP. China is the second best in terms of GDP and Military Expenditure. We notice that South Korea has the fastest growing Military Expenditure in terms of percentages.
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