Ruth Leger Sivard's

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Ruth Sivard's World Military and Social Expenditures was the first publicly available comparison of military and social spending by world governments. Mrs. Sivard had been a high-ranking economist for the US State Department and the Arms Control and Disarmament Administration. She was able to find reliable sources for the detailed statistical information she published. Her work was internationally recognized by scholars and sponsored in part by The Rockefeller Foundation, The MacArthur Foundation, Union of Concerned Scientists, SANE/FREEZE and UNESCO. Please see our Background for an account of how this book came to be published.

World Military and Social Expenditures

"I can think of few subjects that should be of deeper concern to all humanity than the problem of how to restrain the world’s military colossus and turn the race for arms into a race for peaceful development." Hubert H. Humphrey in his foreword to the 2nd edition.

Ruth Sivard produced the highly acclaimed World Military and Social Expenditures in sixteen editions from 1974 to 1996. These books were published by World Priorities Inc., a non-profit publishing company which she established in 1974. In her own words:

"The purpose of this report is to provide an annual accounting of the use of world resources for social and for military purposes, and an objective basis for assessing relative priorities.

"In bringing together military and social data for direct comparison, the report bridges a gap in the information available to the public. It is hoped that this will help to focus attention on the competition for resources between two kinds of priorities."

Read the forewords by:

John Kenneth Galbraith
Carl Sagan
Robert S. McNamara
Patricia Schroeder
Admiral Noel Gayler

Women..a World Survey

Women... a World Survey was produced by Ruth Sivard in two editions, in 1985 and 1995.

“The purpose of this survey is to bring together in an easily accessible and abbreviated form a range of factual information on the situation of women in the world community today.

"My hope is that this will help open the door to others who began as I did with little information and a willingness to try to see what is at issue.

“To give perspective to the picture, the focus is on changes which have occurred since World War II; in the statistical record, this is essentially the 35-year period beginning 1950.”

Read the forewords by:

Hillary Rodham Clinton
Liv Ullman

World Energy Survey

Ruth Sivard produced the World Energy Survey in two editions, in 1979 and 1981.

“The purpose of this report is to summarize a large fund of information on the international energy situation in a way that will contribute to public understanding of the basic problems and options.

“It is addressed not to the specialist but to the individual who is interested in seeing his personal and national energy needs in a broader context. The setting is global because the energy future is one of growing world interdependence.

“The shape the future will take depends in large part on courageous political leadership in the longterm public interest. Only a knowledgeable and concerned citizenry can ensure that leadership.”

Read the forewords by:

Mason Willrich
Edwin A. Deagle, Jr.

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