The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute’s (Sipri) 2005 Yearbook found that total spending on weapons in 2004 grew 8% to $1.035 trillion – the highest dollar value yet. Adjusted for inflation, the figure falls just 6% below the all-time peak of spending in 1987-88. Total military expenditure grew 6% in 2004 over the previous year, in line with an average annual increase since 2002.
The report is not as highly politicized as one might expect from reading the media excerpts, and does contain a few interesting nuggets of information. The combined arms sales of the top 100 arms-producing companies in 2003 were 25% higher than in 2002 when measured in current dollars. It also notes that while the pace of mega-mergers in the arms trade had slackened somewhat, it has left major military suppliers comparable in size and influence to top multinational corporations. Read the 2005 Yearbook here.