Sources
Where MilitarySpend gets its numbers.
MilitarySpend is built on public records first. We use secondary material for context, not as a substitute for direct documentation, and we label the difference when the evidence is incomplete.
Public baselines
We anchor country comparisons in public military expenditure datasets, then carry that baseline through the rest of the publication stack.
Primary documents
Budgets, appropriations texts, procurement notices, sanctions filings, official statistics, and parliamentary materials receive priority when they exist.
Corporate disclosures
Annual reports, investor presentations, earnings transcripts, and other filings are used when the question involves contractors, suppliers, or the defense industrial base.
Context material
Think tank reports, academic work, and wire coverage help frame a subject, but they do not outrank public records or direct disclosures.
Source selection rules
Prefer the most direct public record available.
Label estimates when a figure is modeled, inferred, or time-shifted.
Treat one-source claims as provisional until they are corroborated.
Do not cite opaque numbers as fact when the underlying method is unavailable.
How to read a citation
If a number appears on MilitarySpend, the goal is not to imply false precision. The goal is to show the strongest available public estimate and make the provenance visible.
For the underlying tracker logic, see the Methodology page. For source-specific caveats, see Data.
When a source is not enough
No direct record
If the public record is incomplete, we say so. In those cases the page may rely on a clearly labeled estimate rather than a single asserted fact.
Competing figures
When two public sources disagree, we prefer the better-documented method and note the divergence instead of blending the numbers into a false consensus.
Revisions
If a better source arrives later, the page should move. For the revision policy, see Corrections.