Defense Spending Has Declined While Entitlement Spending Has Increased

Everyone wants to know more about the budget and here is some key information with a chart from the Heritage Foundation and a video from the Cato Institute.

Spending on national defense, a core constitutional function of government, has declined significantly over time, despite wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Spending on the three major entitlements—Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid—has more than tripled.

PERCENTAGE OF GDP

In Depth

• Policy Papers for Researchers

  • FACTSHEET ON AUGUST 17, 2010Solutions for America: The Building Blocks of a Strong National Defense
  • BACKGROUNDER ON APRIL 05, 2011The FY 2012 Defense Budget Proposal: Looking for Cuts in All the Wrong Places

• Technical Notes

  The charts in this book are based primarily on data available as of March 2011 from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). The charts using OMB data display the historical growth of the federal government to 2010 while the charts using CBO data display both historical and projected growth from as early as 1940 to 2084. Projections based on OMB data are taken from the White House Fiscal Year 2012 budget. The charts provide data on an annual basis except… Read More

• Authors

  Emily GoffResearch Assistant
  Thomas A. Roe Institute for Economic Policy StudiesKathryn NixPolicy Analyst
  Center for Health Policy StudiesJohn FlemingSenior Data Graphics Edito