Define "most countries", David. The relevant direct comparisons are with other NATO countries & potential enemies only. What Jamaica or Japan might (or might not) spend on defence is beside the point. The sad fact is that defence spending is a necessity until Homo Sap somehow manages to abolish war, which we show no sign of doing. Far from spending too much, what we spend is actually about right. There is supposedly a commitment within NATO to spend 2% of GDP on defence. According to this Jan 18 article, we spend 2.13%. Unfortunately, very few nations meet their commitments; Germany, Canada, & Denmark spend as little as 1-1.2% and others even less. In fact, as far as I can see, only Estonia, France, Greece, Poland, the UK & the US meet that 2%, and only Poland of those, who just meet the 2%, spends less than the UK. Only 3 others (Norway, Portugal, Turkey) spend more than 1.5%. This has a knock-on effect, because spending would be more efficient if we pooled resources more, but big spenders like the UK & France decline to do so when we are already - effectively - subsidising other nations' defence. And by comparison, Russia spends a whopping 5.4% - most people, in the face of that, would probably consider it unwise to reduce spending at this point in time, I suggest!
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