Dutch military spending fell in 2011, according to the latest figures from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) which were released on Tuesday.

The government spent around €8.5bn on its armed forces in 2011, the same amount as in 2010. With an adjustment for inflation, military spending actually fell 2.9%, says SIPRI.
The figure includes everything connected to defence, including the cost of military personnel, development of new weapons and maintenance of military bases.
In West and Central Europe, only Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain spend more on defence than the Netherlands, the institute says.
Global spending was €1.32trillion in 2011, an increase of 0.3% and down on the annual average of 4.5% between 2001 and 2009, says SIPRI.