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Comparisons
in World Spending
By
Suzanne Elston, INFACT
Canada
April 2, 2002
Since the September 11th attacks, global military and
security spending has spiraled. In total, $1.6 trillion
is spent annually on military weapons. At the recent Salt
Lake City Winter Game alone, organizers spent an
estimated $300 million on security measures or
approximately $125,000 per athlete. By contrast, the 1999
WTO meetings in Seattle had a mere $5 million to spend on
security.
This is in response to the deaths of 3,000 people. By
contrast, in the last twelve months:
- more North Americans were murdered by their
spouses
- three times as many people died from food
poisoning
- five times as many people were killed by drunk
drivers
- ten times as many people committed suicide
- 100 times as many people died from smoking
North American governments are now planning to spend
more than 20 billion dollars a year to help fight
terrorism. Coincidentally, 20 billion dollars a year just
happens to be the amount the World Health Organization
has estimated it would take to end hunger in the world.
On September 11th alone it's estimated that:
- 24,000 people died of hunger
- 6020 children were killed by diarrhea
- 2700 children were killed by measles
- 1411 women died in childbirth
- 3288 children were made homeless by war
For an additional investment of 48 billion dollars a
year (or less than 0.4% of world military spending),
mankind could:
- ensure that all children both boys and girls -
receive a primary education
- reduce the number of maternal childbirth deaths by
three-quarters
- reduce the number of children who die before the age
of 5 by two-thirds
- stop the spread of AIDS.
Information sources include The New
Internationalist and CBC Radio.
© Suzanne Elston and INFACT Canada
©
TFF and the
author
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