Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 15 Feb 2000

Vol. 514 No. 3

Written Answers. - Defence Forces Spending.

Willie Penrose

Ceist:

122 Mr. Penrose asked the Minister for Defence the overall expenditure on defence as a percentage of GDP in each of the years from 1995 to date; the comparison of this level of expenditure with other countries in the European Union; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4004/00]

Minister for Defence (Mr. M. Smith):

From 1995 to 1999 annual expenditure on defence in this country as a percentage of GDP was as follows:

Year	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999
	£million	£million	£million	£million	£million
Defence expendi-ture (net)	423	453	491	507	533
% of GDP	1.03%	1.00%	0.95%	0.85%	0.8%*

*based on provisional GDP figure.

In the time available, it was not possible to obtain details of defence expenditure as a percentage of GDP in other EU countries except for the years 1997 and 1998. These details are as follows:

	Defence expenditure as a % of GDP
Country	1997	1998
Austria	0.8	0.8
Belgium	1.5	1.5
Denmark	1.7	1.6
France	3.0	2.8
Germany	1.6	1.5
Greece	4.6	4.8
Italy	2.0	2.0
Luxembourg	0.9	0.9
Netherlands	1.9	1.8
Portugal	2.3	2.3
Spain	1.4	1.3
United Kingdom	2.8	2.8
Finland	1.6	1.5
Sweden	2.5	2.5

The level of expenditure on defence in any particular country is influenced by a variety of factors, including that country's political and security environment and its history. In this coun try the decline in defence expenditure as a percent of GDP in recent years is directly attributable to the high annual growth of GDP.