The World : Military Spending Soars

Global military spending soared to a new high in 1987--about $930 billion, or $1.8 million a minute, an increase of $50 billion over 1986, an annual study found. Ruth Leger Sivard, a former chief of the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency’s economics division, who compiled the figures with the help of the Rockefeller Foundation and other private groups, said the United States in 1987 spent $293 billion, up $13 billion over 1986, while the Soviets spent $260 billion, up $15 billion. Together, this represented 59% of the world’s military spending. Sivard also said that developed countries spent $790 billion on the military, up $76 billion, while developing countries spent $140 billion, a $5-billion decrease.