Of course. But people naturally look at this while keeping in mind obvious things like the size difference between USA and other nations.
I don't have to point out that USA has 300 million+ inhabitants because that's common knowledge. As such their GDP will be higher than most.

Though on that note, China has significantly more people in their country than USA does. Do you think the cost of a US soldier is so much significantly higher, that USA's piece of that chart is several times that of China's? If so, how? 
And why would an American soldier cost more than a Chinese soldier?

You don't want to be outspend by Russia? That would be collusion I've heard.

numberwang said: The Chinese military for example has about twice active personnel compared to the US (2.2M vs 1.3M ) which is obscured by exchange rate magic comparisons. Flag Country Active military Reserve military Paramilitary Total Per 1000 capita (total) Per 1000 capita (active) China[34] 2,183,000 510,000 660,000 3,353,000 2.4 1.6 India[71] 1,395,100 2,142,800 1,403,700 4,941,600 3.9 1.1 United States[166] 1,347,300 865,050 14,850 2,227,200 6.9 4.2 North Korea[115][Note 9] 1,190,000 6,300,000 189,000 7,679,000 305.7 47.4 Russia[131][Note 11] 1,013,000 2,500,000 710,000 4,223,000 29.7 7.1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_number_of_military_and_paramilitary_personnel The US would also outspend most following countries combined in social spending if you take a total Dollars exchange rate as a base of comparison.

Hold on, are you suggesting that the defense budget is primarily made up of soldier salaries?

Just a few weeks ago it was announced that USA finished R&D on some pointless military aircraft for obscene amounts of money. It was calculated that instead of that plane, that money could have covered everyone in the country for both healthcare and college for one or two years? I forget. I can look it up but it's not the first time their hyper expensive toys have made the headlines.
The development of these weapons are likely eating the majority of that budget. Of course, maintaining bases around the world is also very costly, but those countries provide US with trillions of dollars in exchange, and it's not as if those bases aren't of strategic value to the US. They're not just there out of the goodness of their hearts.

The Chinese military for example has about twice active personnel compared to the US (2.2M vs 1.3M ) which is obscured by exchange rate magic comparisons.

Flag	Country	Active military	Reserve military	Paramilitary	Total	Per 1000 capita (total)	Per 1000 capita (active)
	China[34]	2,183,000	510,000	660,000	3,353,000	2.4	1.6
	India[71]	1,395,100	2,142,800	1,403,700	4,941,600	3.9	1.1
	United States[166]	1,347,300	865,050	14,850	2,227,200	6.9	4.2
	North Korea[115][Note 9]	1,190,000	6,300,000	189,000	7,679,000	305.7	47.4
	Russia[131][Note 11]	1,013,000	2,500,000	710,000	4,223,000	29.7	7.1

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_number_of_military_and_paramilitary_personnel

The US would also outspend most following countries combined in social spending if you take a total Dollars exchange rate as a base of comparison.

numberwang said: The Chinese military for example has about twice active personnel compared to the US (2.2M vs 1.3M ) which is obscured by exchange rate magic comparisons. Flag Country Active military Reserve military Paramilitary Total Per 1000 capita (total) Per 1000 capita (active) China[34] 2,183,000 510,000 660,000 3,353,000 2.4 1.6 India[71] 1,395,100 2,142,800 1,403,700 4,941,600 3.9 1.1 United States[166] 1,347,300 865,050 14,850 2,227,200 6.9 4.2 North Korea[115][Note 9] 1,190,000 6,300,000 189,000 7,679,000 305.7 47.4 Russia[131][Note 11] 1,013,000 2,500,000 710,000 4,223,000 29.7 7.1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_number_of_military_and_paramilitary_personnel The US would also outspend most following countries combined in social spending if you take a total Dollars exchange rate as a base of comparison.

China has more soldiers, so what? China has 4 times more population, is a bigger country and the one with the most neighboring countries (14, not counting any close countries across the sea). So it's only natural that the country has a larger military as it has more space to cover. India has a bigger army mostly because of it's huge population.

I didn't expect North Korean Army to be this big. Sitting between China, Russia and South Korea, I expected a very large one, but that's ludicrous in size

Well, someone has to pay for the defense of Norway and the rest of NATO

So, achieving world peace while spending more on their defense budget ... that's counter-intuitive.

100B that could have served better in the hands of their people, but nah I digress.

We'd be much better off if they were employed in another industry. Shocking amount of money wasted on weapons.