Military budget of China

Last updated

Military expenditure of China, Russia and U.S. in constant 2021 US$ billions U.S - China - Russia, Military Spending.svg
Military expenditure of China, Russia and U.S. in constant 2021 US$ billions
The military budget of China as a percentage of GNP China published military budget by percent of GNP.tiff
The military budget of China as a percentage of GNP

The military budget of China is the portion of the overall budget of China that is allocated for the funding of the military of China. This military budget finances employee salaries and training costs, the maintenance of equipment and facilities, support of new or ongoing operations, and development and procurement of new weapons, equipment, and vehicles. Every March, as part of its annual state budget, China releases a single overall figure for national military expenditures.[ citation needed ]

Contents

As of 2023, the official military budget was announced to be 1.55 trillion yuan, the second largest in the world behind the US. [1]

According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, SIPRI, China became the world's fifth largest exporter of major arms in 2014–18, an increase of 2.7 per cent from the period 2010–2014. China supplied major arms to 53 states in 2014–18. Pakistan was the main recipient of these transfers, standing for 37%, whilst the remaining exports were small in volume, but with a wide variety of countries. [2]

Official announcements

The Chinese government annually announce the budget for the internal security forces and the PLA at the National People's Congress in early March.

Unofficial estimates

Unofficial estimates place the total amount of military spending for China higher than the Chinese government figures, but these calculations tend to differ between organizations.

The last year that many international institutes provided estimates of Chinese military spending in comparable terms was 2003.[ citation needed ] In terms of the prevailing exchange rate, SIPRI, RAND, the CIA and the DIA estimated the budget to be between US$30–65 billion. In terms of purchasing power parity, or the relative purchasing strength of the expenditure, the SIPRI estimate was as high as US$140 billion. [13] The Chinese government's published budget at that time was less than US$25 billion.

A RAND Corporation study for year 2003 estimated China's defense spending to be higher than the official number but lower than United States Department of Defense calculations. The defense spending of China was estimated, in the mid-range estimate, to be 38 billion dollars or 2.3% of China's GDP in 2003. The official figure was 22.4 billion dollars. Nevertheless, Chinese military spending doubled between 1997 and 2003, nearly reaching the level of the United Kingdom and Japan, and it continued to grow over 10% annually during 2003–2005. [14]

In 2010, the US Department of Defense's annual report to Congress on China's military strength estimated the actual 2009 Chinese military spending at US$150 billion. [15] Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) estimates that the military spending of the People's Republic of China for 2009 was US$100 billion, [16] higher than the official budget, but lower than the US DoD estimate.

The International Institute for Strategic Studies in a 2011 report argued that if spending trends continue China will achieve military equality with the United States in 15–20 years. [17]

Jane's Defence Forecasts in 2012 estimated that China's defense budget would increase from $119.80 billion to $238.20 billion between 2011 and 2015. This would make it larger than the defense budgets of all other major Asian nations combined. This is still smaller than the estimated United States defense budget of $525.40 billion for 2013. However, United States defense spending is slightly declining. [18]

In 2017, the magazine Popular Mechanics estimated that China's annual military spending is greater than $200 billion, around 2% of the GDP. [19]

In 2019, Peter Robertson, a professor from the University of Western Australia, argued that using conventional currency conversion as opposed to more accurate "purchasing power parity" (PPP) exchange rates dramatically understated China's military capabilities and that China's real military spending was equivalent to US spending of $455 billion, calculated from a PPP perspective. [20]

In 2022, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute estimated the China's military spending is $230 billion which accounted for 1.7% of the country total GDP. [21]

Comparison with other countries

Absolute expenditures in USD
Country/Region SIPRI (2022) [22] Official budget (2014) IHS Inc. (2013) [23] IISS (2013) [24]
United States $877.0 billion$575 billion [25] $558.4 billion$560.4 billion
China $292.0 billion$131 billion [26] $113.2 billion$111.2 billion
Russia $86.4 billion$69.3 billion [27] $68.9 billion$68.2 billion
United Kingdom $68.5 billion$56.9 billion [28] $58.9 billion$57 billion
Japan $46.0 billion$47 billion [29] $56.8 billion$51 billion

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Qatar Armed Forces</span> Combined military forces of Qatar

The Qatar Armed Forces are the military forces of the State of Qatar. Since 2015, Qatar has implemented mandatory military conscription with an average of 2,000 graduates per year. As of 2010, Qatar's defence expenditures added up to a total of $1.913 billion, about 1.5% of the national GDP, according to the SIPRI. Qatar has recently signed defence pacts with the United States in 2002 & 2013, with the United Kingdom in 2020, and with France in 1994.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Russian Armed Forces</span> Military forces of the Russian Federation

The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, commonly referred to as the Russian Armed Forces, are the military of Russia. In terms of active-duty personnel, they are the world's fifth-largest military force, with 1.15 million and at least two million reserve personnel. According to the United States' Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), "Russia plans to expand its active personnel force to 1.5 million by 2026, which will make it the third largest in the world, after China and India." The country has three primary branches of service: the Ground Forces, the Navy, and the Aerospace Forces, as well as two independent arms of service: the Strategic Rocket Forces and Airborne Forces. In addition, the Special Operations Forces Command was established in 2013, with an estimated strength in 2022 of 1,000, possibly with additional supporting staff.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National debt of the United States</span>

The national debt of the United States is the total national debt owed by the federal government of the United States to Treasury security holders. The national debt at any point in time is the face value of the then-outstanding Treasury securities that have been issued by the Treasury and other federal agencies. The terms "national deficit" and "national surplus" usually refer to the federal government budget balance from year to year, not the cumulative amount of debt. In a deficit year the national debt increases as the government needs to borrow funds to finance the deficit, while in a surplus year the debt decreases as more money is received than spent, enabling the government to reduce the debt by buying back some Treasury securities. In general, government debt increases as a result of government spending and decreases from tax or other receipts, both of which fluctuate during the course of a fiscal year. There are two components of gross national debt:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arms industry</span> Industrial sector which manufactures weapons and military technology and equipment

The arms industry, also known as the defense industry, military industry, or the arms trade, is a global industry which manufactures and sells weapons and military technology. Public sector and private sector firms conduct research and development, engineering, production, and servicing of military material, equipment, and facilities. Customers are the armed forces of states, and civilians. An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition – whether privately or publicly owned – are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination. Products of the arms industry include weapons, munitions, weapons platforms, military communications and other electronics, and more. The arms industry also provides other logistical and operational support.

A black budget or covert appropriation is a government budget that is allocated for classified or other secret operations of a nation. The black budget is an account expenses and spending related to military research and covert operations. The black budget is mostly classified because of security reasons. The black budget can be complicated to calculate, but in the United States it has been estimated to be over US$50 billion a year, taking up approximately 7 percent of the US$700 billion American defense budget.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Military budget</span> Financial resources dedicated by a state for purposes of national defense

A military budget, also known as a defense budget, is the amount of financial resources dedicated by a state to raising and maintaining an armed forces or other methods essential for defense purposes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Government spending</span> Government consumptions, investments, and transfer payments

Government spending or expenditure includes all government consumption, investment, and transfer payments. In national income accounting, the acquisition by governments of goods and services for current use, to directly satisfy the individual or collective needs of the community, is classed as government final consumption expenditure. Government acquisition of goods and services intended to create future benefits, such as infrastructure investment or research spending, is classed as government investment. These two types of government spending, on final consumption and on gross capital formation, together constitute one of the major components of gross domestic product.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Military budget of the United States</span> Yearly spending of the United States military

The military budget of the United States is the largest portion of the discretionary federal budget allocated to the Department of Defense (DoD), or more broadly, the portion of the budget that goes to any military-related expenditures. The military budget pays the salaries, training, and health care of uniformed and civilian personnel, maintains arms, equipment and facilities, funds operations, and develops and buys new items. The budget funds five branches of the US military: the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Space Force.

The military budget of Japan is the portion of the overall budget of Japan that is allocated for the funding of the Japanese Self-Defence Forces. This military budget finances employee salaries and training costs, the maintenance of equipment and facilities, support of new or ongoing operations, and the development and procurement of new weapons, equipment, and vehicles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States federal budget</span> Budget of the U.S. federal government

The United States budget comprises the spending and revenues of the U.S. federal government. The budget is the financial representation of the priorities of the government, reflecting historical debates and competing economic philosophies. The government primarily spends on healthcare, retirement, and defense programs. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office provides extensive analysis of the budget and its economic effects. It has reported that large budget deficits over the next 30 years are projected to drive federal debt held by the public to unprecedented levels—from 98 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2020 to 195 percent by 2050.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States Department of Defense</span> Executive department of the United States federal government

The United States Department of Defense is an executive branch department of the federal government of the United States charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the U.S. government directly related to national security and the United States Armed Forces. As of June 2022, the U.S. Department of Defense is the largest employer in the world, with over 1.34 million active-duty service members, including soldiers, marines, sailors, airmen, and guardians. The Department of Defense also maintains over 778,000 National Guard and reservists, and over 747,000 civilians bringing the total to over 2.87 million employees. Headquartered at the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C., the Department of Defense's stated mission is to provide "the military forces needed to deter war and ensure our nation's security".

The following is a partial accounting of financial costs of the 2003 Iraq War by the United States and the United Kingdom, the two largest non-Iraqi participants of the multinational force in Iraq.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Expenditures in the United States federal budget</span> Overview of expenditures in the United States federal budget

The United States federal budget consists of mandatory expenditures, discretionary spending for defense, Cabinet departments and agencies, and interest payments on debt. This is currently over half of U.S. government spending, the remainder coming from state and local governments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ministry of Defense (Saudi Arabia)</span>

The Ministry of Defense is a Ministry in Saudi Arabia that is responsible for the protection of national security, interests and sovereignty of the country from external threats as well as the working with all ministries of the state to achieve national security and stability. The current minister of defense is Prince Khalid bin Salman Al Saud, who was appointed on 27 September 2022. The Ministry includes the five service branches of the Saudi Arabian Armed Forces: The Royal Saudi Land Force, The Royal Saudi Air Force, The Royal Saudi Naval Force, The Royal Saudi Air Defense Force and the Royal Saudi Strategic Missile Force.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Military budget of Russia</span>

The military budget of Russia is the portion of the overall budget of Russia that is allocated for the funding of the Russian Armed Forces. This military budget finances employee salaries and training costs, the maintenance of equipment and facilities, support of new or ongoing operations, and development and procurement of new weapons, equipment, and vehicles. According to estimates for the 21 years from 2000, Russia increased its military budget from $9.23bn to $65.9bn, or more than 600 percent. Moscow spends more on the military than any country of the European Union.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Military budget of India</span>

The military budget or defence budget of India is the portion of the overall budget of Union budget of India that is allocated for the funding of the Indian Armed Forces. The military budget finances employee salaries and training costs, maintenance of equipment and facilities, support of new or ongoing operations, and development and procurement of new technologies, weapons, equipment, and vehicles.

Military budget of Turkey, Turkey’s Military Budget is at 100.4 billion Turkish liras, or $44.3 billion, former Turkish Defense Minister İsmet Yılmaz said 8 November 2014. He was responding to a question from an opposition party leader, the Nationalist Movement Party’s Ankara deputy Özcan Yeniçeri, who asked how much Turkey had spent on its defense budget since 2002. Yılmaz said Turkey spent about 1.71 percent of its Gross Domestic Product, or the GDP on defense in 2014. Turkey used to spend 3.5 percent of its GDP on defense in 2002.

The economics of defense or defense economics is a subfield of economics, an application of the economic theory to the issues of military defense. It is a relatively new field. An early specialized work in the field is the RAND Corporation report The Economics of Defense in the Nuclear Age by Charles J. Hitch and Roland McKean . It is an economic field that studies the management of government budget and its expenditure during mainly war times, but also during peace times, and its consequences on economic growth. It thus uses macroeconomic and microeconomic tools such as game theory, comparative statistics, growth theory and econometrics. It has strong ties to other subfields of economics such as public finance, economics of industrial organization, international economics, labour economics and growth economics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Government spending in the United States</span>

Government spending in the United States is the spending of the federal government of the United States, and the spending of its state and local governments.

References

  1. 1 2 Jash, Amrita (April 14, 2023). "China's 2023 Defense Spending: Figures, Intentions and Concerns". Jamestown Foundation . Retrieved 2023-04-15.
  2. Wezeman, Pieter D. (March 2019). "Trends in international arms transfers, 2018 | SIPRI".
  3. "What does China really spend on its military?". ChinaPower, CSIS. 2016-04-19. Retrieved 2016-04-21.
  4. "China to raise defence budget 10.1 pct this year in high-tech drive". Reuters. 2015-03-05. Retrieved 2015-03-05.
  5. "China aims for around seven percent economic growth in 2015: Premier Li". Reuters. 2015-03-05. Retrieved 2015-03-05.
  6. "China says defense spending pace to slow, to improve intelligence". Reuters. 2016-03-05. Retrieved 2016-03-05.
  7. Martina, Michael (2017-03-06). "China confirms 7 percent increase in 2017 defense budget". Reuters. Retrieved 2021-03-20.
  8. "China to increase 2018 defense budget by 8.1 percent - Xinhua | English.news.cn". www.xinhuanet.com. Archived from the original on March 5, 2018. Retrieved 2018-03-06.
  9. "China boosts defense spending, rattling its neighbors' nerves". Reuters. 5 March 2018. Retrieved 2018-03-06.
  10. Nectar Gan and James Griffiths (21 May 2020). "China's leaders look to send message of control at annual political showcase". CNN.
  11. Tian, Yew Lun (2021-03-05). "China defence spending gets mild boost amid economic caution". Reuters. Retrieved 2021-03-07.
  12. Lei, Zhao. "China to raise military budget by 7.1% this year". www.chinadaily.com.cn.
  13. "U.S. Department of Defense". U.S. Department of Defense.
  14. Modernizing China’s Military Opportunities and Constraints
  15. Office of the Secretary of Defense - Annual Report to Congress: Military Power of the People's Republic of China 2010 (PDF) "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-03-20. Retrieved 2015-04-21.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  16. "The 15 major spender countries in 2011 (table)". sipri.org. Archived from the original on 28 March 2010. Retrieved 25 March 2015.
  17. "East-West military gap rapidly shrinking: report". Reuters. 2011-03-08. Retrieved 2023-04-17.
  18. "AIRSHOW-Fighters, radar, marine patrols top Asia's military wish-list". Reuters. 2012-02-16. Retrieved 2023-04-17.
  19. "China's Military Power Nears "Parity" With the West, Report Says". Popular Mechanics. 2017-02-16. Retrieved 17 February 2017.
  20. Robertson, Peter (October 2019). "China's military might is much closer to the US than you probably think". The Conversation. Retrieved 2020-01-26.
  21. Tian, Nan; Fleurant, Aude; Kuimova, Alexandra; Wezeman, Pieter D.; Wezeman, Siemon T. (24 April 2022). "Trends in World Military Expenditure, 2021" (PDF). Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Archived from the original on 25 April 2022. Retrieved 25 April 2022.
  22. "Trends in World Military Expenditure, 2022" (PDF). Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. April 2023. Retrieved 29 April 2023.
  23. "Global Defence Budgets Overall to Rise for First Time in Five Years - Four of the five fastest growing defence markets in 2013 were in the Middle East; Russia grabs third place from Japan and the UK". IHS inc. Retrieved 2 March 2014.
  24. Marcus, Johnathan (2014-02-05). "Military spending: Balance tipping towards China". BBC. Retrieved 2 March 2014.
  25. United States Department of Defense, Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller), http://comptroller.defense.gov/Portals/45/documents/defbudget/fy2015/fy2015_Budget_Request_Overview_Book.pdf, retrieved May 3rd, 2014.
  26. Branigan, Tania. "China targets 7.5% growth and declares war on pollution". The Guardian . Retrieved 5 March 2014.
  27. Kazak, Sergey (8 October 2013). "Russia to Up Nuclear Weapons Spending 50% by 2016". RIA Novosti. Retrieved 1 March 2014.
  28. Porter, Henry (2013-02-03). "What budget for defence? First let's work out Britain's place in the world". Guardian. Retrieved 2 March 2014.
  29. "Plan for Defense Programs and Budget of Japan Ministry of Defense Overview of FY2014 Budget" (PDF). Japanese Ministry of Defense. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 March 2014. Retrieved 2 March 2014.