Total defence expenditure continues to decrease

In 2012, total defence expenditure of the 26 EDA pMS (1) amounted to € 189.6 billion - a reduction of € 1.1 billion or 0.6% compared to 2011. It represented approximately 1.50% of their total GDP and 3.04% of their total government expenditure, both values being the lowest since 2006. In real terms (2), total defence expenditure has been decreasing since 2006. During the period from 2006 to 2011, it dropped by € 21 billion or almost 10% and between 2011 and 2012 it reduced further by almost 3%.