The annual cost of UN peacekeeping in 1993 was over $3.6 billion, with almost than 80,000 peacekeepers deployed. In 1998, the number of peacekeepers had dropped to between 12,000 and 15,000, with expenses around $1 billion. In 2000, the yearly expense is estimated at roughly $2.6 billion with about 38,000 peacekeepers currently deployed. Accumulated arrears for all past and present peacekeeping operations amounted to $2.1 billion in October 2000. The arrears of a single Member State, the United States, accounted for more than half this amount. The failure of Member States to pay their assessments for peacekeeping has, in effect, shifted the burden of peacekeeping onto those States which have not been reimbursed for essential personnel, equipment and other elements they have supplied.

UN peacekeeping costs in 2000 are expected to amount to about $2.6 billion, a sum equivalent to 30 cents per person on the planet. Worldwide, Governments spend some $750 billion every year on military activities. By comparison, the cumulative total of UN expenditures relating to peacekeeping in the more than half-century since 1948 is estimated at about $21 billion.