Military Spending by Foreign Nations: Data from Selected Public Sources

Publication Date: April 2001

Publisher: Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

Author(s):

Research Area: Military and defense

Type:

Abstract:

This report provides data on defense spending of foreign nations from two sources: the U.S. State Department's World Military Expenditures and Arms Transf ers (WMEAT) and the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), The Military Balance.

Although the Department of State and IISS endeavor to provide consistent and accurate information, cross-national comparison of military spending are inherently imperfect. Available sets of data are useful but inevitably suffer from shortcomings of one type or another.