UN General Assembly
1976

82. At a time when the threat of hunger is a reality to so many millions of people, vast amounts of money are being spent on the work of destruction. The gross indifference of the weapons merchants, the tranquil assurance of the buyers and sellers at a time when the business of supplying food to countries suffering from hunger poses such difficult problems, is something to cause us concern. The statistics of the World Bank show that in 1970 the world spent $183 billion on armaments-some 24 times the total amount allocated for aid programs. Military expenditure is rising by about 6 per cent a year, so that the growth of the forces of destruction is greater than that of the total production of all the goods and services in the world. We can therefore see that, in spite of speeches and conferences on disarmament, the international arms market has never been so prosperous.