2024-04-22 08:22:49
Global military spending experienced the largest jump in a decade in 2023, reaching $2.4 trillion due to ongoing conflicts, according to a report published Monday by a specialist institute, with particularly marked increases in Europe, the Middle East. -Orient and Asia.
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This is the largest increase in 10 years. Global military spending experienced record growth in 2023, reaching $2.4 trillion due to ongoing conflicts, according to a report published Monday April 22 by a specialized institute.
This spending has increased all over the world but increases are notable in Europe, the Middle East and Asia, according to researchers at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri).
They increased by 6.8% in 2023, “the strongest annual increase since 2009”, according to the report. “This reflects the deterioration of the peace and security situation in the world. There is no real region where the situation is improving,” notes Nan Tian.
The United States, China, Russia, India and Saudi Arabia top the list of states that spent the most.
The continuation of the war in Ukraine has led to increased spending in Ukraine, Russia, and “a whole range” of European countries, Nan Tian added. Russia has increased its spending by 24% to $109 billion, according to Sipri estimates, and since the annexation of Crimea in 2014, it has increased it by 57%.
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War in Ukraine and the Middle East
Ukraine increased its spending by 51% to $64.8 billion, but the country also received $35 billion in aid, most of it from the United States, amounting to a military investment equivalent to more than 90 % of that of Russia.
While the military budgets of the two countries are close, they represent 37% of Ukraine’s GDP and 58% of the country’s public spending, according to the researcher. In contrast, they represent 5.9% of Russia’s GDP.
“Ukraine’s room to increase spending is now very limited,” says NanTian.
In Europe, Poland posted the largest increase in military spending, up 75% to $31.6 billion.
Spending also increased in the Middle East, where Israel, the region’s second biggest spender, saw its spending rise 24% to $27.5 billion in 2023, mainly due to the offensive by the country in Gaza in response to the October 7 attack by Hamas.
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Saudi Arabia, leading the region in spending and fifth in the world, increased its spending by 4.3% to $75.8 billion. The United States, the world’s leading nation in military spending, increased it by 4.3% to $916 billion last year.
Security problems in Africa and Central America
China increased its military investment for the 29th consecutive year, by 6% to $296 billion. Beijing’s military buildup and worsening tensions in the region have prompted neighboring countries to devote more funds to their defense.
Japan spent 50.2 billion and Taiwan 16.6 billion, an increase of 11% for each of them. The world’s fourth-largest country, India, increased its spending by 4.3% to $83.6 billion.
In Central America and the Caribbean, spending has been driven by other phenomena, such as the fight against organized crime. In the Dominican Republic, they increased by 14% to deal with gang violence in neighboring Haiti, which is having repercussions on its territory.
The trend is the same in Africa.
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) more than doubled (+105%) its spending to 794 million, the largest increase in the world, to deal with growing tensions with Rwanda.
Second largest increase (+78%), South Sudan spent $1.1 billion.
With the war in Ukraine being “far from over”, the Middle East still on edge and Asia prey to multiple tensions, the Sipri researcher expects a continued increase in military spending.
“We expect this upward trend to continue for at least a few more years,” he concludes.
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