The Economist 25 February 2022
As Russia continues to wage war in Ukraine, the fighting has not been as one-sided as might have been expected. Despite being outgunned and outnumbered, Ukraine inflicted more casualties in 24 hours than Russia suffered over eight years of engagements in Syria. Ukraine’s anti-tank weapons have presented serious resistance to Russia’s advances in the north and east. This may strike some as surprising. On paper, Ukraine’s military budget is smaller than that of city-state Singapore.
But nominal spending figures dramatically understate some countries’ capabilities, by failing to account for the fact that military costs vary. To compare capabilities fairly, Peter Robertson of the University of Western Australia has devised “military purchasing power parity (PPP)”. This adjusts defence budgets for how they are allocated among wages, operating costs and equipment, and how local prices vary in each of these areas.
militaryppp.com 