Point 1. Money Saved On New Weapons Expenditure

  • New arms procurement is normally 20-30% of the military budget so 25% will be the figure utilised (Grimmett Report – September 2010)
  • Military expenditure 2022 was US$2.240 trillion (2.2% world GDP) therefore money saved on new weapons at 25% is approximately US$560 billion. Hence in 1st year, there will be a US$56b saving on new weapons, and this continues to grow over the 10 year period to an estimated US$560 billion annually, meaning US$280 billion goes back to appropriate nations, whilst the other $US280 billion goes to fund the World Peace Alliance. (Source: Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) – 2016).
  • USA (No. 1 arms spending worldwide) spent US$801 billion in 2021 (2.5% of GDP), hence saving US$200.25 billion per year after 10 years, which means US$100.12 billion goes back into the domestic budget. The conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, 2003-2015 cost $US91.5 billion.
  • Australia (No. 12) spent US$52.58 billion in 2022 (2.04% of GDP), hence saving US$13.14 billion, which means US$6.57 billion goes back into the domestic budget after 10 years. Australia will spend over US$190 billion on new weapons in the next decade – 2021 Defence Budget Estimates. Cost of wars in Iraq (US$2.4 billion) and Afghanistan (US$3.6 billion) reaches US$6 billion.

Point 2. Number of Personnel and Nuclear Weapons in World Military

  • Total armed forces personnel across 172 countries is 27,671,000. (Source: International Institute for Strategic Studies 2019 and World Bank data).
  • Presently 9 countries have nuclear capability and in 2019 there were 13,890 nuclear weapons. Source SIPRI-2019.
  • The cost of maintaining these nuclear weapons is very expensive (US maintenance cost in 2017-2026 is estimated to be in excess of $US400 billion. The modernisation program of these weapons, over the next 30 years, is estimated to be over $US1 trillion).
  • Weapons today are 3,000 times more powerful than Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
  • Use of nuclear weapons pose the biggest threat to the Earth’s environment as they will destroy eco systems and cause a nuclear winter, which will prevent crops from growing for more than five years after the conflict. (Bikini Atoll, the location of some of the first nuclear tests, still cannot be inhabited over 70 years later).
  • Nuclear warfare will cause the immediate death of many millions of people, and will increase the risk of cancer and genetic mutations.

Point 3. Loss Of Arms Trade Income

  • The five U.N. Security Council permanent members are the world’s largest arm dealers (73% of arm sales).
  • Arms sales in 2021 worldwide was $US 592 billion (43% higher than sales in the top 100 companies in the world!)
  • Biggest exporters of arms: US 33% Russia 23% China 6% France 6% Germany 5.6% UK 4.6%
  • Biggest importers of arms: India 13% Saudi Arabia 8.2% UAE 4.6% China 4.5% Algeria 3.7% Australia 3.3%

“When a country decides to invest in arms, rather than in education, housing, the environment and health services for its people, it is depriving a whole generation of its right to prosperity and happiness. We have produced 1 firearm for every 10 inhabitants of this planet, and yet we have not bothered to end hunger when such a feat is well within our reach.”

President Oscar Sanchez, Costa Rica,
Nobel Peace Prize 1987.

Point 4. Malnutrition and Preventable Diseases

WHO 2021 – Preventable Diseases – malnutrition, diarrhoea, pneumonia, and malaria cause two thirds of child deaths worldwide. However the total number of children dying under-5 years old has declined from 12.8 million in 1990 to 5 million in 2021, so improvement is possible.

UNICEF 2022 State of the World’s Children

  • 1.0 billion people lack access to improved sanitation.
  • 274 million children are deprived of one or more services essential to survival and development.
  • 130 million children are not attending primary school, with more girls than boys missing out.
  • 45 million under 5 in developing regions are underweight for their age.
  • 25 million infants are not protected from disease by routine immunisation.
  • 5.0 million children worldwide die before their 5th birthday in 2021.
  • 2.3 million newborns worldwide are dying within the 1st month of life.
  • 1.7 million children under 15 are living with HIV.
  • 1.2 million children live in extreme poverty.
  • 13800 children under 5 still die each day.

India, Nigeria, China, Pakistan, Democratic Republic of Congo and Ethiopia alone suffer from 5.5 million child deaths a year.

  • 41% occur in sub-Saharan Africa
  • 34% in South Asia

Every day, child death is 4.5 times greater than the toll of the World Trade Centre disaster.

UNICEF 2022 – Costs to Save These Children

  • Malaria the worst killer
  • $3 insecticide-treated mosquito net reduces child mortality by 20%
  • 43% of children have no safe water
  • Less than $30 per child for immunisation will save 2 million children.

Point 5. United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

  • On January 1, 2016, 194 countries agreed the 17 goals and 169 targets in the U.N. new Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), replacing the previous Millennium Development Goals (MDG)
  • Costs of meeting the UN Sustainable Development Goals in all countries, is approximately $US 1.325 trillion to remove extreme poverty for 700 million people, save 97 million premature deaths, and increase up to 8.4 years on life expectancy (World Bank data).
  • The breakdown of major costs are ($US):
    Infrastructure $396 billion
    Access to modern energy $347 billion
    Education $194 billion
    Transport $189 billion
    Agriculture and Food Security $146 billion
    Health $89 billion
    Water and Sanitation $45 billion
    Eco System $28 billion
    Emergency Response $23 billion
  • Unfortunately the Millennium Development Goals did not reach their required targets by 2015, but improved some areas considerably.
  • There are numerous reasons for this, but the underlying causes would still be financial and organisational issues.
  • This 3P Plan would make a major improvement to the progress and success of the Sustainable Development Goals program.
  • All this can be achieved for far less than the world annual military budget.
  • The choice is OURS!

Statistics contained in the presentation were difficult to obtain accurately and are correct, to the best of our knowledge, at time of printing. Dr Noel Patterson OAM (B.Sc., M.I.R, D.C, I.C.S.S.D, F.I.C.C, F.A.C.C)