Education Spending and the Economy

[John Simkin]

World military spending in 2003 increased by about 11 per cent in real terms. This is a remarkable rate of increase, even more so given that it was preceded by an increase of 6.5 per cent in 2002. Over two years world military spending increased by 18 per cent in real terms, to reach $956 billion (in current dollars) in 2003. High-income countries account for about 75 per cent of world military spending but only 16 per cent of world population. What impact is this having on education spending. This table provides information on how much different countries spend on education compared to the money they spend on the military. Here are some examples: USA (4.8 - 3.4), France (5.8 - 2.5), UK (4.5 - 2.4), Austria (5.8 - 0.8), Finland (6.1 - 1.2) and Spain (4.5 - 1.2).

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