Global military expenditure sees largest annual increase in a decade

Global military spending was the largest in 2019 compared to the last decade since 2010, reaching USD $1917 billion, an increase of 3.6% from 2018, as revealed by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). However, most of the military spending was by five countries, led by the United States, including two Asian nations. The report says US, China, India, Russia and Saudi Arabia accounted for 62% of the military spending; it is the first time that two Asian states figured among the top five military-spending nations. US military spending saw a growth of 5.3% and spent $732 billion in 2019, which is 38% of total global military spending. China, which has the world’s second largest economy, spent $261 billion in the same year which was 5.1% more than 2018. India’s rivalry and tensions with Pakistan and China led it to increase military spending by 6.8% to $71.1 billion in 2019. “Increased threat perception” from Russia as shared by many North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) member states pushed Germany to biggest military spender in Europe, which was the largest increase in spending among the top 15 military spenders in 2019. Germany spent $49.3 billion with an increase of 10% from last year. The African continent saw “volatile military spending” due to many conflicts in the region. Interestingly, military expenditure in South America was relatively unchanged in 2019, at $52.8 billion. The report also revealed that average military spending burden was 1.4% of GDP for countries in the Americas, 1.6% for Africa, 1.7% for Asia and Oceania and for Europe, and 4.5% for the Middle East (for which data was available).