A new GDAMS infographics compares global military spending with human security and climate emergency mitigation costs

To make visible the outrageous opportunity cost of global military expenditures (1.98 trillion $), the Global Campaing on Military Spending (GCOMS), an International Peace Buereau’s campaign coordinated by Centre Delàs d’Estudis per la Pau, has prepared this infographic. It illustrates current levels of military spending, also divided in shares, and compares them with the cost of human security-oriented programmes, including those related to the Sustainable Development Goals, the COVID-19 pandemic and the climate emergency.

For instance, 9% of the world’s total military spending during the last 10 years could finance the adaptation to climate change the Global Commission on Adaptation proposes; a 10% reduction of the world’s military expenditures could fund education for every person on earth (SDG4); 26 hours without spending money on the military could save 34 millions people from starvation; the last 4 years of EU member states aggregated military expenditures could finance the European Green New Deal.

These are just some comparisons, but they help understand the magnitude of the squandering military spending means for our societies.