World's top 10 military spenders

UNITED STATES - $ 661 billion (30,98100 crore rupees) : According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, the world's biggest defense spender has increased its outlay by 75.8 percent since 2000.
Image: A US Marine Corps Harrier jet lands on the deck of the USS Iwo Jima

China - $100 billion (4,60,000 crore rupees): Beijing regards its military expenditures as a state secret, but SIPRI estimates that China spent $100 billion on its military in 2009.
Image: A Taiwan army ground crew run towards US made attack helicopters during a demonstration.

France - $63.9 billion (3,00,000 crore rupees): The biggest military spender in Europe increased its budget 7.4 percent from 2000. France has the world's second-highest per capita military expenditures, at $1,026 per person.
Image: France's Defence Minister Herve Morin (front R) and Spain's Defence Minister Carme Chacon.

England- $58.1 billion (2,71,800 crore rupees): London increased military spending 28.1 percent over the decade. As a percentage of GDP, that's 2.5 percent, and about in line with the world average of 2.7 percent.

Image: A soldier from the 1st Royal Welsh batallion waits for a chinook helicopter to land.

Russia - $53.3 billion (2,48,400 crore rupees) : Russia's military spending has seen a 105 percent increase since 2000.
Image: Russian soldiers board a Mi-26 helicopter near Grozny

Japan - $51 billion (2,39,000 crore rupees) : The world's second-largest economy is focusing revenues away from military, decreasing such spending by 1.3 percent over the past decade. That's less than 1 percent of total GDP

Image: Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force 1st Airborne Brigade duringt an annual new year military exercise

Germany - $45.6 billion (2,13,700 crore rupees): The biggest economy in Europe has gradually shifted revenues away from defense, causing a 6.7 percent drop in military spending over the past decade.

Image: Soldiers in historical uniforms march during a military parade in the Black Sea port of Sevastopol

audi Arabia - $41.2 billion(1,93,110 crore rupees) : The biggest military spender in the Middle East has increased defense investments 66.9 percent over the past decade.

Image: Saudi Prince Khaled bin Sultan bin Abdul-Aziz, returns a salute to Saudi soldiers

India - $36.3 billion(1,70,430 crore rupees) : The only Asian country in the top 15 aside from rival China. India spent the ninth highest amount of any country worldwide. That's a 67.3 percent increase over the decade, according to SIPRI. But per capita military spending in India the world's second most-populous country is one of the world's lowest, at just $ 30.4 per person.

ITALY - $35.8 billion (1,67,790 crore rupees) : No. 10 but spending less. Over the past decade, Rome decreased state military spending by 13.3 percent more than any other country in the top 10. According to Stockholm-based SIPRI's annual report, of the 19 states in the G20, only Argentina, Indonesia, and Italy did not increase their military spending in 2009.
Image: A photo of Italian army Sergeant Major Roberto Valente who was killed by a car bomb in Afghanistan