NationStates Jolt Archive


OOC: What is a sensible % military for my nation?

Clonetopia
02-11-2003, 18:52
Given that my nation is highly militarised and puts a lot of funding into it's military, what is a sensible % of my population to be in the military?

See my Nation (http://www.nationstates.net/cgi-bin/index.cgi/page=display_nation/nation=clonetopia)
Crimmond
02-11-2003, 18:56
0.6% at most

0.4% would be about right.
Omz222
02-11-2003, 18:57
If you are militaristic in terms of numbers, 1% for your TOTAL force.

Myself only use a 0.24%, but it gives me the benefit of being able to afford more advanced technologies.
Kaze Progressa
02-11-2003, 18:57
You can't really have too much with 23% taxation. 30% of your BUDGET - which would be around 7% of GDP - would seem about right. I think so, anyway...
Omz222
02-11-2003, 18:58
0.6% at most

0.4% would be about right.
I think the USA used something like 1% or 0.8%... Hmm...
Clonetopia
02-11-2003, 19:00
I could use 1% (for easy math). That would give me a total of 10.5 M people in my army.
Super American VX Man
02-11-2003, 19:05
If I remember correctly, 2.5% is about the largest that you want to go in peace time, and that still puts you at strong risk to economic troubles. I personally use about 1.5%.
Maktaala
02-11-2003, 19:13
only reason you'd have up to 10% would be if you used your civilians as soldiers on top of your actual military. actualy I have a nation that can do that, but over all less than 1% is more than enough for most people(unless you only have a couple million :D)
question: is this not on an FAQ page?
02-11-2003, 19:14
---Post deleted by NationStates Moderators---
Maktaala
02-11-2003, 19:16
ok the only thing you could realy use little kids for is clearing mine fields... but even then, its still a waste. just carpet bomb the mine field and use child labourn to build the bombs, that way you get more use of of em :D
02-11-2003, 19:19
Babies making bombs? They'd eat the wires.
02-11-2003, 19:30
Babies making bombs? They'd eat the wires.

What kind of baby where you???? :shock:
Athel Nora
02-11-2003, 19:51
Babies eating wires.... :?
Back to the point the largest % the military should be during peace without risking banckrupcy would 1%
Thelas
02-11-2003, 19:56
Thelas uses a 1% for my millitary, but Thelas is a millitaristic nation.
New Cyprus
02-11-2003, 20:09
I got clawed at from all my friends when I asked this and they yelled at me that it all depends on government type.
A dictatorship could actually have 15-30% ( :!: ) of people in the military, but with poor weapons and training.
While a democracy would probably only have 0.5-5% in the military with good weapons and training. At least that is what my friends told me, but my nation now technically has no army due to certain events in the past, but that is what my friends told me.
Pantocratoria
02-11-2003, 20:12
The idea that a dictatorship's army would be larger but more poorly trained is an awfully silly idea (see Nazi Germany).

Remember when considering the percentage of your population in the military to consider how much of that percentage would be "support staff" - noncombatants. I would expect it to be quite a high proportion.
02-11-2003, 20:13
I use 1%, but my army is very highly trained.
02-11-2003, 20:14
1% though I'm told some people have some big % ratings.
03-11-2003, 09:50
Babies eating wires.... :?

"Small Parts. Do not assemble using children under 3 months."
Anhierarch
03-11-2003, 10:01
The old rule of thumb was 5%, but nobody really uses that now. Not if they want to have an economy and soldiers well trained enough to hit a barn at thirty paces.

Personally, my total military personnel accounts for about 0.12% of my population.

Justifications and arguments for and against the figures commonly agreed on are here:

http://www.nationstates.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=13017&highlight=