In 2023, a US general noted that decades of UK military spending cuts had affected its combat capabilities. Are there lessons other countries can learn from the UK when it comes to defense budgeting?
In 2023, an American general noted that decades of military spending cuts in the UK had affected his fighting abilities. The same concerns about the state of the British forces were also reported by the then Chief of the United States Army in 2015.
Military spending cuts not unique to the UK For decades, military spending around the world has been declining due to decades of ‘peace dividends’ after the end of World War II.
Even defense spending in the United States, as a percentage of its economic output, is at historic lows, falling from around 9% of its GDP in 1960 to 3.5% in 2021.
Between recessions and growing cost pressures to fund social spending, military budgets were easy targets for cuts. But when economies recovered, military budgets did not grow along with it.
An analysis of military spending since World War II noted that “military budgets need longer to recover from an economic downturn than to benefit from economic growth.”
Since Russian troops poured into Ukraine and China asserted itself more forcefully in Asia, European countries have announced increased military spending.
Are there lessons other countries can learn from the UK when it comes to defense budgeting?
Watch the video above to learn more about the factors affecting defense budgets and why military spending is growing so slowly.