HL Deb 04 June 1997 vol 580 cc39-40WA
Lord Jenkins of Putney

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they will publish in the Official Report a table showing the amount spent per capita of population by each country in Europe on defence.

Lord Gilbert

Our estimates of per capita expenditure on defence by European members of NATO in 1996 are as follows:

US $1
Norway 859
France 796
Denmark 582
UK 577
Greece 530
US $1
Netherlands 503
Germany 477
Belgium 420
Italy 415
Luxembourg 335
Portugal 294
Spain 220
Turkey 110
1 At average 1996 market exchange rates.

It has not been the Government's practice regularly to collect comparable statistics on non-NATO European countries, although much useful information can be found in The Military Balance 1996–97, published by the International Institute for Strategic Studies.