Here’s who invests the most in military spending. Sipri reports
In 2022, global military spending reached $2.24 trillion, a new all-time high. The war in Ukraine stimulates defense investments for the armed forces, according to Sipri, a Stockholm think tank. Here are the data on the main countries
New record for global military spending.
The outbreak of war in Ukraine triggered the steepest increase in military spending in Europe in three decades. This is what the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) maintains in its report on armaments for last year published on 24 April.
Global military spending increased by 3.7% year-on-year to $2.24 trillion in 2022, hitting a new all-time high. It is also the eighth consecutive year of increase.
"The continued increase in global military spending in recent years is a sign that we live in an increasingly insecure world," said Nan Tian, senior researcher on the military spending and weapons production program at the Stockholm think tank. “States are building military strength in response to a deteriorating security environment, which they do not anticipate improving in the foreseeable future.”
All the details.
THE UNITED STATES LEADING MILITARY EXPENDITURE
The United States is confirmed as the first country in the world for defense investments, equal to 877 billion dollars. SIPRI estimated that Washington's military aid to Ukraine accounted for 2.3 percent of total US military spending in 2022. Although the US was by far the largest defense investor in the world, its spending overall increased only marginally in real terms.
Followed by China and Russia, with respectively 292 and 86.4 billion dollars. Together, these states account for more than half of the 2022 global total. Notably, Beijing, whose military spending has increased for 28 consecutive years, is the world's second-largest defense investor, with an estimated $292 billion in spending. in 2022, 4.2% more than in 2021 and 63% more than 2013.
Behind Russia, follows India with 81.4 billion dollars, 6% more than in 2021 and 47% more than in 2013, a reflection of the continuing tensions on the border with China and Pakistan, specifies Sipri.
WHAT HAPPENS IN THE OLD CONTINENT
In Europe, military spending rose 13% last year to $345 billion, mainly due to increases in Russia and Ukraine, but with many countries across the continent also boosting military budgets amid rising tensions.
The UK had the highest military spending in Central and Western Europe at $68.5 billion, of which about $2.5 billion (3.6%) was military aid to Ukraine. Some of the steepest increases were observed in Finland (+36%), Lithuania (+27%), Sweden (+12%) and Poland (+11%).
GERMANY THE COUNTRY THAT SPENDED THE MOST ON DEFENSE IN THE EU
Germany is seventh in the SIPRI ranking, with military spending of 55.8 billion dollars.
Germany's military budget was the seventh largest in the world last year behind the United States, China, Russia, India, Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom, and further huge increases in spending are expected. In the aftermath of Russia's aggression against Ukraine, Berlin has set up an extra budget fund of 105 billion dollars, which will be used from 2023 to increase the military capabilities of its armed forces.
HOW MUCH RUSSIA AND UKRAINE SPEND
Russia's military spending grew by about 9.2% to about $86.4 billion, or 4.1% of the country's GDP in 2022, up from 3.7% in 2021.
“The difference between Russia's budget plans and its actual military spending in 2022 suggests that the invasion of Ukraine has cost Russia much more than anticipated,” said Lucie Beraud-Sudreau, military spending program director. and arms production of SIPRI.
Ukraine's military spending — 11th in the rankings at $44 billion — rose 640% in 2022, the largest annual increase recorded in SIPRI data dating back to 1949. The think tank points out that total did not include the huge amounts of military aid provided by the West.
HOW ITALY IS POSITIONED
Our country ranks right after Ukraine, in twelfth place, with defense spending amounting to 33.5 billion dollars. As Sipri points out in its report, Rome expects to increase military spending to 2.0% of GDP by 2028, it increased military spending in nominal terms by 3.9% in 2022, but this was equivalent to a decrease of 4 .5% in real terms.
WE ALSO REARM IN THE REST OF THE WORLD
In addition, the upward trend in defense spending continues in Asia and Oceania. Japan and China lead military spending in Asia and Oceania, which totals $575 billion. In particular, Japan reached the highest since 1960, amounting to 41.8 billion euros. The figure shows a decline in Africa, where it stood at 36.3 billion euros.
SIPRI'S FORECASTS ON MILITARY EXPENDITURE
Finally, SIPRI predicts that military spending will continue to grow worldwide.
Dr Diego Lopes da Silva, senior researcher on SIPRI's military spending and weapons production programme, said 2022 could prove to be just the beginning of mass rearmament.
“The invasion of Ukraine had an immediate impact on military spending decisions in central and western Europe,” the researcher explained. “This included multi-year plans to increase spending by different governments. As a result, we can reasonably expect military spending in central and western Europe to continue to increase in the coming years."
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/guerra-spesa-militare-sipri/ on Mon, 24 Apr 2023 10:13:08 +0000.