Poland went from a post-Cold War army of ~400,000 troops to barely ~100,000 in the early 2010s.
Now it’s heading toward nearly 5% of GDP on defense and one of the largest military build-ups in Europe.
The chart shows:
- defense spending as % of GDP (1990–2025)
- army size
- share of state budget spent on the military
Is Poland making a rational adjustment to the security situation in Eastern Europe — or creating a long-term fiscal burden that will reshape the state for decades?
https://i.redd.it/0r03hl76r23h1.png
Posted by Plus_Key640
7 Comments
Too much imo
The demographic collapse in Poland means that there is no way we can reach a 300 000 standing army during peacetime. The Polish army will have to be smaller and will be back to 150 000 – 100 000 over the coming decades.
I wonder if Poland still keeps buying new fancy toys while having ammunition stock that would last 3 days in a full scale wall.
It’s sad how military spending became competition of who can spend more. Whatever those billions of dollars are spent efficiently is completely different matter. Spending on domestic industry is also pathetic. Mainstream parties won’t admit it, but our military budget is mostly protection money for the US.
Poland is finally learning it’s lesson that it can’t depend on anyone for it’s security but itself, and this is the price of security.
During times of peace and calm, people will say it’s a waste, but that’s only because it’s hard to put a value on deterence.
Deterence doesn’t make headlines, aggression does.
Shitty AI graphic, get outta here
The last column is off.