Datablog + Defence policy

Defence Review: All eyes will be on whether Liam Fox, the defence secretary, remains on board as drastic cuts are introduced to his budget. Photograph: Dave Thompson/PA

The Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) will shape British military policy for decades. Find out what was announced

Historic British public spending - our interactive guide

Historic government spending has changed rapidly since the second world war - see how those priorities have altered

Florence Nightingale's 'coxcomb' diagram on mortality in the army. Click on the image to get a bigger image of her first version - her "bats wing" which she later revised

Florence Nightingale was a master in visualising statistics - see how she did it

Afghanistan IEDs mapped from Wikileaks' data. Click image for full graphic. Illustration: Paul Scruton for the Guardian

From the Wikileaks Afghanistan war logs: every roadside bomb and IED attack between 2004 and 2009, with full details

Key incidents from the Wikileaks Afghanistan data mapped

Key incidents from the Wikileaks Afghanistan war logs selected by Guardian writers. As a spreadsheet, with co-ordinates

TIC, RPG: glossary of military terms for incidents like this, where an Afghan Army soldier fires a rocket propelled grenade at suspected Taliban at combat outpost Nolen, north of Kandahar. Photograph: Bob Strong/Reuters

What do all those military initials mean? This is our guide

Coins data released: what did the Treasury database really tell us? Photograph: Cate Gillon/Getty

Guardian specialist correspondents take a look at the Coins data out today

A para in Afghanistan: how does spending compare? Photograph: Marco Di Lauro/Getty Images

Britain has one fo the largest defence budgets in the world. But do we really spend less on our troops in Afghanistan than the US and Canada? Get the data

British airmen conduct a dawn airborne counter insurgency patrol in Basra, Iraq. Photograph: Matt Cardy/Getty Images

As Britain prepares to withdraw its forces from Iraq, these figures from the Ministry of Defence show how the number has changed since the 2003 invasion.

DATA: British troop numbers in Iraq

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Daniel Craig poses as secret agent James Bond in the film Casino Royale. Photograph: Public domain

How much do our spies cost? Thanks to Hansard, we now know. See the figures below.

DATA: Intelligence spending, compared to total defence spending

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A fence

Find out how the world's biggest military spender's outlay has grown since 1992 in these figures from the White House.

DATA: US defence spending
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Even with two wars raging, it seems British soldiers are unlikely to be killed in action. These figures from the Ministry of Defence show year by year cause of death stats (numbers and rates) for British personnel, with accidents the biggest single cause.

DATA: British soldiers cause of death since 1998

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Barack Obama meets US soldiers at a military camp in Kuwait, where he stopped en route to Afghanistan. Photograph: Alicia Torbush/AFP/Getty images

Cause of death for all US forces personnel, comparing Clinton to Bush junior. The differences are not as great as you may think.

DATA: US military deaths
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Does Britain really have the world's second biggest defence budget? Depends on the measure. These figures from the Ministry of Defence show how we compare in spending and what that cash can actually buy — purchasing power parity. It has numbers in dollars and in percentages and is for 2007, the latest available.

DATA: Top spenders: 2007

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HMS Liverpool is currently deployed in the south Atlantic. Photographer: Dave Griffiths/PA

Numbers of military personnel on active service around the world