Higher is relative.
I would have liked to use PPP (Purchasing Power Parity) for the military expeditures, but could not find it nor a conversion factor for it. The effect would be that poorer countries would show to spend more on military than is shown in the present graph.
The data sources are a little old, but you get the picture. If you take away the logarithmic scaling then the USA stands out like a sore thumb, but you can’t see the nuances amongst the rest of the pack. The data is not corrected for relative earnings which could bring the USA more in line with the others given higher wages paid to soldiers and other personnel than most other countries.
This provides a slightly different outlook than this previous post on livestock.
Data sources
Number of sheep per country: 2008 UN FOA
Military spending per country: 2008 SIPRI
Military spending per country as proportion of GDP: 2008 SIPRI
