Saudi Arabia Spends $87.2 Billion on Its War Machine

As the relationship between Saudi Arabia and the United States frays over a possible congressional vote about the Middle East nation’s role in 9/11 and whether the Saudis will sell U.S. assets in retaliation, the country could find itself isolated from its largest ally. It is not without military means even if there is a schism. The Saudis spent $87.2 billion on their military, which creates a formidable war machine.

In a 24/7 Wall St. analysis of military spending by country, Saudi Arabia ranked third among all nations.

The 24/7 Wall St. summary, from a story published April 14:

Saudi Arabia
> Military expenditure: $87.2 billion
> Pct. change military expenditure, 2006-2015: 97.1%
> Expenditure as pct. of GDP: 13.7%
> Per capita military expenditure: $2,778

At an estimated 266.6 billion barrels, Saudi Arabia has the second largest proven crude oil reserves in the world after Venezuela. With the precipitous drop in oil prices in recent years, a number of other oil-dependent nations reduced their defense budgets. Despite the decline in oil prices, Saudi Arabia has consistently amassed immense oil wealth that ensured stable economic conditions and allowed larger military expenditures. The country’s annual defense spending of $87.2 billion is the third highest in the world and far and away the largest in the Middle East. Military spending in Saudi Arabia nearly doubled over the past 10 years.

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And the methodology:

To identify the countries with the fastest rising and fastest falling military budgets, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed 2015 military expenditures estimated by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) in its most recent annual “Trends in World Military Expenditure, 2015” report. Spending as a share of GDP, per capita expenditure, and absolute spending figures for 2015, 2014, and 2006 also came from SIPRI.

The Saudi figure tops that of number five Russia, which spent $66.4 billion on its own war machine last year.