Based on CDI’s latest analysis, the proposed $396 billion Fiscal Year 2003 Pentagon spending package exceeds that of the next 25 nations combined.

For more information, see CDI’s updated “World Military Expenditures” factsheet and “Military Spending: U.S. vs. the World, FY’03”

Q: Previous estimates placed proposed U.S. military spending at being equivalent to that of the next 15 countries. Why the huge change?

A: When you rank countries by the amount each spends on the military, once you get beyond the “Top Ten,” military budgets per nation fall to about $15 billion. When you get below the top 15, spending falls below $10 billion per country. Thus, the proposed $48 billion increase in U.S. military spending covers the budgets of a lot of countries.

FACT: More than 100 countries have military budgets of less than $1 billion, roughly what the Pentagon spends in one day.

FACT: Over 50 countries have military budgets of less than $100 million. Under the proposed budget, the Pentagon would spend that much in just over two hours.

FACT: If you converted the proposed $396 billion Pentagon budget in to silver dollars and stacked them one on top of another, it would make a stack 690 thousand miles high. That’s roughly three times the distance to the Moon, and enough to circle the Earth 27.5 times.