In its latest report released on Monday, the Stockholm Peace Research Institute (Sipri) notes that global arms spending has reached a new record high of $2.24 trillion, or around 2.2% of gross domestic product ( GDP) worldwide.
In addition to the conflict in Ukraine, “which is tightening European budgets”, the cause of global growth is also “unresolved and growing tensions in East Asia”, the report’s co-author told AFP. Nan Tian. Compared to 2021, global military spending increased by 3.7%.
According to the think tank, European countries spent 13% more on armaments in 2022, adjusted for inflation, than a year earlier. This is the largest increase in 30 years.
Compared to 2013, military spending by European states increased by 38%. The absolute amount of $480 billion corresponds to the price-adjusted level of military spending in 1989, the last year of the Cold War.
Sipri experts predict that this trend will accelerate in the next ten years. According to the report, in 2022 Ukraine increased its military spending almost sevenfold. Its military budget was $44 billion. Ukraine ranked 11th in the world in terms of defense spending, its military burden was the largest of any country, at 34% of GDP.
According to experts, these figures do not include the tens of billions of dollars in arms shipments from abroad. The think tank said spending by central and western European states reached $345 billion in 2022, more than in 1989 in real terms. Their defense spending was 30% higher than ten years ago.
Overall, after a significant decline in the 1990s, military spending around the world has increased steadily since the 2000s, in part due to China’s heavy investment in its military. In 2022, the United States again had the highest military spending ($877 billion).
China, which has the world’s second-largest defense budget at $292 billion, increased spending by 4.2%, adjusted for inflation. Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and Australia also allocated significantly more funds to military spending than a year earlier.
According to the Sipri report, Germany spent $55.8 billion on defense last year and, like a year earlier, ranks seventh behind the United States, China, Britain , Saudi Arabia, India and Russia. These figures also include military assistance to Ukraine.
Compared to 2021, the federal government has increased military spending by 2.3%. Last year, Germany created a $105 billion off-budget fund that will be used from 2023 to boost the military capability of its armed forces. However, in terms of GDP, Berlin remained well below the NATO target of 2%, with 1.4% for the defense budget. London traditionally spends more than Berlin and Paris on defence, and British military spending was $68.5 billion.
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