Economic Implications of Military Expenditures in the Middle East

Since 1949 military expenditures in the Middle East have grown at a rapid rate and are now large in dollar volume. For instance, from 1949-1969, military expenditures increased at an average annual rate of 14 percent for the Middle Eastern Nations (UAR, Israel, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait and Lebanon) as compared to a rate of 7 percent for the United States, 4.6 percent for France, 4.1 percent for the Soviet Union and 1.6 percent for the United Kingdom. And in 1970, the dollar value of these expenditures (in millions of 1960 United States dollars) were: Israel (1268), UAR (1043.9), Iran (619.5), Saudi Arabia (387), Iraq (202.4), Syria (157.8), Jordan (76.4), Kuwait (70), Lebanon (45.1), Yemen (14), or a total of $3884.1 million for all of these countries combined.' In more recent years, leading up to the recent war, these military expenditures have again grown rapidly and for Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Iran, the growth rate has been even more phenomenal.2