A note on the military expenditure of the Gulf countries

World military expenditure is increasing tremendously in almost all world countries. It becomes a burden on the national economy and a hinder of economical development in both developed and developing countries. In this paper, we study the effect of military spending on development opportunities in general; we then take a deep look at the military expenditure of the Gulf countries in order to have an idea about the importance of military buildup and army modernization for Gulf countries. Also we compare the average proportion of national GDP spent by Gulf countries on the military, education and health care sectors during the period 1997-2008 in order to have a clear idea about the differences in Gulf governments spending priorities.