June 18,2008: For the first time in over four decades, Pakistan has released information on its defense spending. The current years spending is $4.1 billion. That figure explains why this data has been kept secret for so long. That's because Pakistan's arch-enemy, and neighbor, India is increasing its defense budget by nearly 50 percent, to $39 billion. The difference should be no surprise. India has six times the population (at 1.1 billion) and 7.5 times the GDP ($1.1 trillion compared to $145 billion). India's economy has been booming for over a decade, while Pakistan's largely stagnates.

This military spending disparity has long been suspected, even with the secrecy. The GPD differences were well known, as were the details of how the two forces were equipped. This, of course, is why Pakistan put so much effort into developing nuclear weapons. Only this would provide a credible defense against a militarily superior India. Pakistan has been spending about percent of GDP on defense, while India was long spending two percent (the proposed increase will make it three percent). The global average is about 2.5 percent.