Sources:

https://cepr.org/voxeu/columns/debating-defence-budgets-why-military-purchasing-power-parity-matters (Brief explanation of what Military PPP is and why it gives a more accurate picture than nominal defense budgets, for the few Countries the data is obtainable from)

https://databank.worldbank.org/ (GDP, GDP-PPP, Mil. Exp, and Mil. Exp %GDP figures)

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/354697825_The_Real_Military_Balance_International_Comparisons_of_Defense_Spending

Made with: Google Sheets, Adobe Illustrator, and Photoshop

Isn’t a large amount of the military expenditure just like… educating, housing and feeding people?

Probably more recent data at UN's Office of Disarmament - https://milex.un-arm.org/

It has all jumped up since 2019. They have data from the 80's and defense budgets never seem to go down.

Housing and feeding, yes (although the people in question are soldiers and their dependants). "Education" is pushing it. While there are some programs that encourage soldiers to get degrees before/during/after service, that can also cover a lot of very specific military training.

Logarithmic y-axis kind of gives a skewed view here due to trying to include mutiple datasets. The total gdp dataset range dominates the military budget one making the military budget one not really expressing the differences between nations as well. e.g. India seems kind of close to USA here whilst in reality there PPP budget is still only 1/3rd of the US one

Is this an ISU-152 from WW2?

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