It is estimated that one-fifth of the developing world's debt is due to arms imports. War has plunged many developing countries deeper into debt. For countries such as El Salvador, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan and Uganda, military conflict has been a major cause of indebtedness. The other five are in the former Yugoslavia and the former Soviet Union. In the developing world, war also brings starvation.
Weapons kill in many ways.
The Campaign Against Arms Trade estimates that the money spent on one British Aerospace Hawk fighter jet could instead provide 1.5 million people with clean water for the rest of their lives. Military spending distorts the economies of developing countries, diverting scarce financial resources and trained personnel from projects which could create wealth and benefit the poor. Valuable foreign reserves are depleted by importing weapons. In recent years, India has been one of the world's biggest arms importers. India has a high infant mortality rate, with 84 babies out of every thousand dying before the age of one - a rate twelve times higher than the infant mortality rate in Britain.