Pakistan tops the list of contributors of troops to the UN peacekeeping force, officials said. As of 31st October 2006, the top 10 troop contributors were: Pakistan (9,790), Bangladesh (9,655), India (9,276), Jordan (3,819), Nepal (3,522), Ghana (2,674), Uruguay (2,583), Ethiopia (2,568), Nigeria (2,429) and South Africa (2,077). Peacekeeping is paid for by all Member States, according to an agreed upon formula which they established. The current top 10 financial contributors are: the United States (27 per cent), Japan (19 per cent), Germany (9 per cent), United Kingdom (7 per cent), France (7 per cent), Italy (5 per cent), Canada (3 per cent), Spain (3 per cent), China (2 per cent) and the Netherlands (2 per cent). As of 31st October, the annual peacekeeping budget was $4.75 billion (excluding the mission in Timor-Leste and possible expansion of the one in Sudan), and outstanding contributions stood at $2.5 billion. With the full deployment of the operation in Lebanon and if the mission in Darfur gets underway, the budget could go as high as $7 billion. A total of 81,000 military and police personnel and some 15,000 civilians drawn from several countries are serving in peace operations around the world in 18 different missions.
