Military and arms spending worldwide has fallen steadily since 1987, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute reports. The decline averaged 4.5 percent per year between 1988 and 1997 -- for a total cut of about one-third.

• Military and arms spending totaled some $740 billion last year -- with the U.S. being the largest exporter, and Taiwan supplanting Saudi Arabia as the largest buyer.

• The deepest cuts over the 10-year period were recorded in Russia and other successor states to the Soviet Union -- where spending in 1997 was only one-tenth the 1988 level.

• Russia's total military expenditure last year was $24.1 billion, according to the institute, compared to $273 billion in the U.S.

• NATO's total military expenditure fell by one-third in the 10 years -- to $451 billion last year.

Spending has declined "significantly" in Africa, North America and Central and South America. The exceptions to the downward trend were in North Africa, the Middle East and South and East Asia.

The institute said it did not have accurate expenditure data for China, as the figures provided by Beijing were an "underestimate."