Israel has the highest per capita spending rate for defense in the world and the second highest in terms of gross national product, according to World Military Expenditures, a document released here by the U.S. government’s Arms Control and Disarmament Agency. The agency compiles figures on military spending around the world.
Its latest statistics showed that Israel spent $477 for arms for every man, woman and child in 1970, a sum one-quarter higher than the U.S. per capita spending for arms. The U.S. figure was $379 per person. The Soviet Union was in third place with a per capita arms outlay of $270.
Other data revealed that countries that devoted the greatest proportion of their national wealth to arms were in the Middle East and Indo-China. South Vietnam spent 34 percent of its GNP on arms in 1970. Israel was second with 25.1 percent and Jordan third with 20.5 percent. Other nations that spent more than 10 percent of their GNP on arms included Syria, Saudi Arabia and Iraq.
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