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Ethiopia Defense Costs
During World War II, when major military expansion programs
began, the government devoted approximately 38 percent of
the national budget to defense. From 1948 to 1958, the
proportion of the budget dedicated to defense dropped from
27 to 17 percent of the total, not because of a decrease in
military expenditures but because the size of the overall
national budget had increased sharply. Throughout the 1960s
and early 1970s, money for defense remained the largest
single item in the budget, varying from 19 to 24 percent of
the total funds appropriated for all national programs.
Beginning in the mid-1970s, defense expenditures started to
rise. In 1974 Addis Ababa allocated the equivalent of US$80
million for defense, in 1976 US$103 million, and in 1979,
US$526 million. By 1987-88 defense expenditures had declined
to approximately US$472 million; however, it should be
pointed out that between 1977 and 1990, the Soviet Union had
provided approximately US$13 billion in military assistance
to the Mengistu regime.
Data as of 1991
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