India and Pakistan boast 3rd and 8th largest armies in the world. Both India and Pakistan boast astronomical armies and arsenals. India maintains a regular army of 1.32 million. Adding the reserve force and paramilitary, the number swells to 4.7 million. Pakistan has a regular army of 0.61 million. Reserve and paramilitary forces raise the total to 1.4 million.
Pakistan and India have a total population of about 1.4 billion and both have above 20 per cent people who live below poverty line. India’s position on the human development index is 136th and Pakistan sit at 146th. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), India ranked 8th and Pakistan 25th on military spending among 152 countries of the world, in stark contrast with human development index.
India and Pakistan respectively spend 2.5 and 2.7 per cent of their GDP on defense appetite, which is a substantial amount that could have been diverted to starving social priorities.
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