The expensive machinery of war. What’s the scam?
Accordingly SPIRIglobal military spending reaches $2.718 billion in 2024; This is a 9.4% annual increase and the steepest annual increase since at least 1988. What is fraud?
The fraud comes at a time when humanitarian aid spending around the world is declining, conflicts are intensifying, and military spending per capita has reached $334 globally, with the military burden rising to 2.5% of world GDP.
UN Secretary General’s 2025 report, The Security We NeedHe warned that global security continues to deteriorate despite increased military investment and that proliferation is actively undermining progress against poverty and other goals.
Statistical analysis cited in the report shows a 1% increase in low- and middle-income countries.
military burden is associated with an almost equal reduction in health expenditures.
In Australia, the 2018 Defense Export Strategy set the goal of making Australia a country. World’s top ten defense exporters. During export data remains notoriously opaque, Most estimates show Australia’s arms exports have more than doubled since the strategy was introduced, even as the aid budget remains flat.
Meanwhile, last week’s Women Deliver Conference exposed the collapse in humanitarian funding, and women and girls, along with entire societies, are paying the price in conflict zones around the world. Australia is selling more guns than ever before.
Women Give a Conference. Is there a silver lining amidst the doom and gloom?
