You might be surprised what an intelligence agency can tell you about your country based off of those "larger" indicators. Especially when tied to other data points. Knowing what another state is capable of is by far the most important part of intelligence gathering.

The DIA has models to determine food supplies in China based off of the number of farm tractors and price fluctuations of dog food in the USA. It amazing how accurate they are considering the data points.

Really isn't a question of whether the information is a security risk or not. It is a question of freedom vs security.