§ Mr Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for Defence whether the present system of indexed pensions against the rise in the cost of living as applied to
PERCENTAGE OF GNP (FACTOR COST) DEVOTED TO DEFENCE 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 Belgium … … … 3.2 3.1 3.0 3.0 3.3 Denmark … … … 2.9 2.8 2.5 2.8 2.9 France … … … 4.7 4.5 4.4 4.3 4.6 Germany … … … 3.8 3.9 3.9 41 4.1 (with Berlin Aid) … … … (4.5) (4.7) (4.7) (4.9) (5.0) Italy … … … 3.2 3.4 3.2 3.1 2.8 Luxembourg … … … 0.9 0.9 0.9 0.9 1.0 Netherlands … … … 3.8 3.7 3.7 3.8 3.9 United Kingdom … … … 5.8 5.9 5.6 5.9 5.7 Eire … … … 1.2 1.3 1.2 1.4 1.6 The figures for countries other than Eire are drawn from NATO sources and are based on the NATO definition of defence spending. This includes some elements not present in the United Kingdom defence budget.
The figures for Eire are drawn from the 1975–76 and 1976–77 editions of the "Military Balance" published by the IISS. They are not strictly comparable with the figures for NATO countries as they are based on a different definition of defence spendings and represent a proportion of GNP at market prices, not GNP at factor cost.