Saudi Arabia has world’s third biggest defence spend


Issue 987 - 19 Feb 2015 | 3 minute read

Saudi Arabia continues to climb the ranks of the world’s biggest military spenders and now has the third largest defence budget in the world, behind the US and China, according to London-based think tank the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS). In a report published on 11 February, IISS estimated that Saudi Arabia spent $80.8bn on its military in 2014, equivalent to around 10.4% of its GDP. This marks a significant increase on previous years. According to IISS, Riyadh’s outlay in 2013 was $67bn (a figure revised upwards in the past year), placing it fourth in the world.

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