China's military spending as part of GDP is 1.7%. Globally it's not even in the top 50 of GDP percentage; even amongst the top 20 military spenders (of which China is #2 overall) it's not even in the top 10 for spending per GDP. Countries like Israel and Saudi Arabia are spending upwards of 5% of their GDP on the military. The standard NATO "commitment" for military spending is 2%; most nations in NATO don't necessarily follow this but they're "supposed" to. For comparison the United States spends almost double per GDP, at 3.2%. Full list is here.
Google gave an AP article saying China spends 1.7% of GDP, compared to 3.5% from US, but GDP is fucky so that's probably not the whole story. Some page from executivegov.com pegs US defense :wink: spending at 10% of the total federal budget, and "nearly half of the discretionary spending". Couldn't find anything as far as Chinese spending in relation to budget, so I suspect it's an unfavorable comparison for the US
Is china’s military considered high relative to its income and GDP? Or is the US just insane and spends more than any reasonable proportion
China's military spending as part of GDP is 1.7%. Globally it's not even in the top 50 of GDP percentage; even amongst the top 20 military spenders (of which China is #2 overall) it's not even in the top 10 for spending per GDP. Countries like Israel and Saudi Arabia are spending upwards of 5% of their GDP on the military. The standard NATO "commitment" for military spending is 2%; most nations in NATO don't necessarily follow this but they're "supposed" to. For comparison the United States spends almost double per GDP, at 3.2%. Full list is here.
Google gave an AP article saying China spends 1.7% of GDP, compared to 3.5% from US, but GDP is fucky so that's probably not the whole story. Some page from executivegov.com pegs US defense :wink: spending at 10% of the total federal budget, and "nearly half of the discretionary spending". Couldn't find anything as far as Chinese spending in relation to budget, so I suspect it's an unfavorable comparison for the US