The Government Should Increase Spending On Defense And Spend Less On Social Benefits | Band 9 IELTS Essay Sample

A government has a responsibility to its citizens to ensure their safety. Therefore, some people think that the government should increase spending on defense but spend less on social benefits. To what extent do you agree or disagree?

Here is a band 9 IELTS essay on this topic. Need help with IELTS writing? Get your IELTS essays, letters and reports corrected by me.

Band 9 IELTS essay sample

The primary role of the state is to protect its citizens from different types of threat. Therefore, some people argue that the government should direct much of its financial resources to the defense sector and cut down the spending on social welfare. I do not agree with this view. In my opinion, a country has to spend on both social welfare and defense. 

There is no denying the fact that a powerful military can ensure the safety of the citizens and maintain peace in a country. A strong military deters aggressive neighbours or terrorists from attacking a country and thereby prevents the loss of innocent lives and property. Moreover, in some countries, military can help with law enforcement and promote political stability by maintaining the sovereignty of the government. Therefore, it is crucial for a government to allocate a sufficient amount of funding to the defense sector.

However, the spending on military cannot be at the expense of social spending because the social welfare is as critical as military might for a country to thrive. The government is responsible to ensure that all the people can satisfy their basic human needs such as food, shelter and health care. By providing welfare for the neediest members of the society through various schemes, the state can improve their living standards and make its people happy and contented.  If there were no social benefit programs such as retirement schemes, disability benefits or subsidized housing, the vulnerable sections of the society would suffer. This can lead to resentment among the disadvantaged sections of the society and social uprising against the authorities. Moreover, citizens are entitled to receive benefits because they pay taxes to the government. Nowadays, only those countries which put great importance on social security can prosper. For example, Canada is a thriving country whose citizens enjoy almost free healthcare.

In conclusion, the state should give as much importance to the welfare of the citizens as to their safety and it will do more harm than good if it reduces the spending on social welfare for increasing military expenditure.

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10 Responses

  1. Helen says:

    The government should increase spending on defence and spend less on social benefits. To what extent do you agree or disagree.

    It is argue by certain individuals that more money should be allocated in safeguarding the nation while other says that little fund should be a portion to social needs. I do not agree with this statement. Although both of these aspect need equal attention but i strongly believe that more money should be spend on social benefits. This will be discussed in this essay.
    To begin with,government of a country need to ensure there is adequate fund for the security department. As it is their responsibility of securing lives and properties of the resident. For instance, in Nigeria with the insurgent of boko Aran killing people and destroying properties, the security department always beef up there defences by buying sophisticated ammunition to fight them. Also, each state do have money a portion for state security to ensure,there is no arm robbers killing people or a civil war within the community. This is possible by having police force and other neighbourhood law and enforcement agencies to monitor and check mate members activities.
    Despite this, more money needs to be given to social benefits so that more basic social needs of the community can be met. If the welfare of the community is put into consideration such as making available portable drinking water. Members of the community will not be falling sick constantly. Thus, it will reduce the way they visit the hospital for treatment, hence, this will increase their productivity at work. Furthermore, there should be creation of more job opportunities if there is employment for people, they can afford and meet up with expected standard of living. By so doing, this will also contribute to the economic of the nation in return because workers can pay their taxes. As people can enjoy the social needs provided by the government.
    In conclusion, as it is good to spend money on both the defence and the social benefits of a nation, i however, opined that more should be a portion to meet the social needs, as this will prevent illnesses and thus,burst productivity.

  2. Helen says:

    It is argued that government should allocate more fund in safeguarding the nation and little should be spent on the provision of basic social needs. I strongly agree with the statement that says, more money should be given to defence department of a nation and less should be spent on social amenities. This will be explain in details in my essay discussion.
    To begin with,it is very crucial for a country to ensure that the safety of people’s lives and properties are put into consideration. If there is tight security in the community, people can always sleep with their eyes closed.since social devices such as robbering and kidnapping are put under control by the department. Also, spending more in beefing up the security of a nation,helps in encouraging local and especially international business organisations to establish in such nations. As they guaranty that investment will be safe. This in return will burst the economic of the nation. Because business can easily flourish and grow.
    Furthermore, stability of a country encourage job creations. Once there is no civil war or unrest organisations can create jobs, Thus, this will provide employment opportunities for workers. For instance, Dangote investments that deals with manufacturing of cements can employe community members to work in their companies.
    Although, government should also consider in ensuring that there is social amenities for citizens to enjoy. Because without them people’s life will not be comfortable. For example, provision of motorable roads for workers to ply when going to work.
    In conclusion, i strongly opined that government of a nation should spend more money to beef up the safety of the nation. Thus, both life and properties will be secured.

    • ielts practice says:

      The truth is that defence personnel rarely take care of issues like robbery or kidnapping. That is not their department. They are mainly concerned with protecting the borders of a country. Content is not the only issue in this essay. Grammar also needs to improve a lot. This is in the band 6 to 6.5 range.

  3. Ahmad says:

    Undoubtedly, strong and foolproof security system is the most crucial need of any country. Some commentators argued that state should not compromise in terms of money in adopting a reliable security system whilst some analysts support the notion that basic need of public should be prioritized first. This essay will discuss albeit the imperative need of social welfare programmes, a powerful defense system is vital for survival
    To commence with the most essential need of the country to thrive is peace. Living with the fear of war is most dreadful thing a nation can have. Moreover unstable security conditions and fear of war are those real impediments which never allow the country to make progress. To cite an example , Iraq and Afaghanistan has undergone a great catastrophe in recent decades due to miseries of war. Hence it has became enevitable for governments to spend a huge amount of it’s capital in adopting a powerful defense system
    Another point worth considering is that with the advancement in cutting adge technology ,the invention of advance and deadly weapons has compelled the state to adopt the latest technology in this area of utmost urgency. The government has to splash out money in order to buy this advance and exorbitant technology. As the invention of nuclear weapons has begin the new race of acquring advance technology among countries to save themselves from miseries of nuclear war.
    To sum up, a nation can compromise on availability of basic needs keeping in view the budget constraints of state but there is no progress and no survival without peace. So governments should allocate reasonable funds for defense system even at the cost of cutting down of socail need of people in order to save them from the devastated effects of war.

  4. Ishan Chathuranga says:

    It is indeed that safety which includes free to live, of its citizen is a top priority for any government. The perspective of spending too much money on defense while allocating less on social benefits has sparked a heated debate in today’s context. This easy is to elaborate a few aspects of the argument.
    First and foremost, in the modern era, the defense is not only protecting borders of the country anymore, since attacking to a country indirectly in the name of terrorism is the main tack tick of many governments. Therefor spending more money on defense while strengthening military intelligence can minimize the security threats. For instance, had Sri Lankan government spend more financials to establish and improve intelligent services , country would have prevented ester attack which killed over 250 people.
    Furthermore, although it is acknowledged that social benefits such as higher living standard, retirement schemes, disability benefits, and subsidized housing are expected by the people in any state, are become leaser important without a proper security and confident about safety. Moreover, inhabitants cannot enjoy other benefits which can be provided with more budget allocations by the government , if they can not feel that they and their loved once are safe. For example: In Siriya where armed forces are attacking to government force , people find safety and right to live freely than higher living standard or retirement schemes.
    In conclusion, Although they demand many social benefits, people who live in modern society, like to enjoy the freedom thinking that they are being protected by their governments. Therefor I believe spending more money on defense including internal security, is reasonable and I do agree with the statement.

  5. Sheve says:

    A government has a responsibility to its citizens to ensure their safety. Therefore, some people think that the government should increase spending on defense but spend less on social benefits. To what extent do you agree?

    There is no doubt that governments are responsible for preserving the safety of their people through taking various measures such as establishing defense facilities. It is believed by some that the budget allocated to defense programs should be expanded, while the one for social benefits should be lowered. While I understand their concerns and justifications, I opine that funding less on social services can lead to considerable security issues.
    Each state should be able to ensure its citizens that their safety is guaranteed against external threats. In other words, a well-structured defense program, which requires particularly reasonable funding, should be implemented by the government to eliminate the country’s vulnerabilities to external adversaries. For example, providing the military forces with the latest facilities to boost their quality demands spending a considerable amount of money by the state. If they are not properly funded, the citizens will be witnessing intruders breaking into their lands.
    The government’s funding on social benefits, however, should not be decreased, since providing these services is of equal importance with defending against aliens. To clarify, should unprivileged individuals cannot receive their required social services such as medical ones and social insurance to name but a few, they are more likely to commit crimes like rubbery. In terms of psychology, the less social welfare people feel, the more temptation of crime commitment they will have. Consequently, not only can less funding on social benefits result in a gloomy society, but also it can lead to an insecure society and other disastrous consequences.
    In conclusion, although defending against external intruders requires a considerable amount of money to be spent by the government, it is not an ideal idea to spend less on social services to achieve it, because in my opinion, providing these facilities and the security of society are intertwined.

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