Singapore Military Spending is 4th in the World Relative to Population

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I'm an American and so no unsurprised to see that the U.S. is first in military spending relative to total population. Also not surprised to see that many Middle Eastern oil pots waste their national funds on military junk. Those oil rich boys just love their toys and perhaps they have an abnormal fear of Israel. After all, there was that six day war.

But why in the world is Singapore ranked fourth? Do they fear an invasion from Malaysia or Indonesia? What an unnecessary waste of taxpayers funds. The Economist explains the basics, but I don't think anyone could explain the horrendous amount of funds being spent by Singapore on their military.

GLOBAL military expenditure rose by 4% in 2008 to a record $1.46 trillion, according to a new report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Israel spends most on defence relative to its population, shelling out over $2,300 a person, over $300 more than America. Small and rich countries, and notably Gulf states, feature prominently by this measure. Saudi Arabia ranks ninth in absolute spending, but sixth by population. China has increased spending by 10% to $85 billion to become the world's second largest spender. But it is still dwarfed by America, whose outlay of $607 billion is higher than that of the next 14 biggest spenders combined.