Tuesday, June 07, 2005

one trillion dollar bet

Highlights of the SIPRI Yearbook 2005 are available today from The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Among them:

• World military expenditure exceeded $1 trillion in 2004. The USA accounted for 47 per cent of this spending.

• The combined arms sales of the top 100 arms-producing companies in 2003 were 25 per cent (in current dollars) higher than in 2002.

• In the new security environment, which focuses on insecurity in the South and greater global security interdependence, there is an increasing awareness of the ineffectiveness of military means for addressing threats and challenges to security and a growing recognition of the need for global action.

SIPRI is an independent foundation funded by the Swedish government to "conduct scientific research on questions of conflict and co-operation of importance for international peace and security, with the aim of contributing to an understanding of the conditions for peaceful solutions of international conflicts and for a stable peace."

Find more at the The SIPRI home page.

1 comment:

Eamon said...

I work at the SIPRI arms production project. You can view the new list of "Top 100" company data here.