PHNOM PENH: Prime Minister Hun Sen said that if countries spent half the money on healthcare that they spend on weapons, the price of healthcare and medicine would decrease drastically and the world would be a much better place.
Speaking at the inauguration ceremony of the maternity ward of the National Children's Hospital on the morning of 20 April 2023, the Prime Minister called out countries that overvalue military power and making profits from selling weapons to promote war and destruction.
"If only 50% of that money [military budget] was used to produce medicine and medical equipment, it would reduce prices by half and the people of the world would benefit greatly," he said.
As of 2020, the top 10 countries that have spent the most money on the military are the United States, China, India, Russia, the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, Germany, France, Japan and South Korea, totalling about $1.4 billion US dollars. The US alone spent about $801 billion in 2021, more than the other nine countries combined.
