Global Military Spending Tops $2 Trillion For The First Time As Europe Boosts Defences

Global military expenditure has surpassed $2 trillion per year for the first time. It reached an all-time high, passing $2 trillion in 2021, according to a report by a leading defense think-tank based in Sweden, as spending increased for the seventh consecutive year. It looks set to rise further as European countries beef up their armed forces in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

In its newest report, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said that the total global military expenditure increased by 0.7 percent in 2021 Extending to $ 2,113 billion. The five Huge Budget Holders in 2021 were the United States, United Kingdom, Russia, China, and India together accounting for 62 percent of expenditure on Military Spending. According to the reports, world military spending is continued to grow in 2021, reaching an all-time high of USD 2.1 trillion. “In 2021, military expenditure rose for the seventh consecutive time to reach 2.1 trillion USD, Diego Lopes da Silva, Senior researcher of SIPRI, told the AFP news agency. Even if the economic fallout of the global COVID-19 pandemic, countries worldwide increased their ammunition, with the global military spending rising by 0.7 percent last year, according to SIPRI. There was a slow down in the rate of real-terms increase due to inflation. however, Military Spending Increased by 6.1 percent, The report issued by the Stockholm-based defense think-tank said.

According to the reports of SIPRI, US Military had spent USD 801 billion in 2021, a drop of 1.4 percent compared to 2020. The Burden on US Military decreased a bit from 3.7 percent of GDP in 2020 to 3.5 percent in 2021. US funding for military research and development rose by 24 percent between the years 2012 & 2021, while arms procurement funding fell by 6.4 percent over the same period. In 2021 spending on both decreased. However, the drop in R&D spending (1.2 percent) was smaller than in arms procurement spending (5.4 percent).

Alexandra Marksteiner, Researcher with SIPRI’s Military Expenditure & Arms Production Programme Said, The increase in R&D spending over 2012-21 suggests that the USA is focusing more on next-generation technologies. Meanwhile, Russia increased its military expenses by 2.9 percent in 2021 to USD 65.9 billion when it was building up its forces along the Ukrainian border, said the reporter of SIPRI. This was the third back-to-back year of Growth, and Russia’s military spending reached 4.1 percent of GDP in 2021. High oil and gas revenues helped Russia Grow its military expenditure in 2021. Russian military spending had been in decline between 2016 and 2019 due to less energy prices integrated with sanctions in response to Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, said Lucie Braud-Sudreau, The Director of SIPRI’s Military Expenditure and Arms Production Programme. The national defense budget line, which accounts for about three-quarters of Russia’s total military spending and includes funding for operational costs and arms procurement, was revised upwards. The final figure for expenditure was USD 48.4 billion, 14 percent more than the budgeted at the end of 2020.

As the conflict strengthened its defenses against Russia, Ukraine’s military spending has grown by 72 percent since the annexation of Crimea in 2014. expenditure fell in 2021 to USD 5.9 billion but still accounted for 3.2 percent of the country’s GDP. The report said that China, the world’s second-largest spender, spend an estimated USD 293 billion on its military in 2021, an increase of 4.7 percent compared with the previous year. China’s military expenditure has grown for 27 consecutive years.

India’s military spending increased to USD 76.6 billion in 2021, marking a 0.9 percent hike over the 2020 figures.” India’s military spending of USD 76.6 billion in 2021 was the third-highest globally. Its spending was up by 0.9 percent from 2020 and by 33 percent from 2012,” the report issued by the Stockholm-based defense think-tank said. The government of Japan added USD 7.0 billion to military expenditure, the report said, adding that as a result, spending rose by 7.3 percent, to USD 54.1 billion in 2021, the highest annual increase since the year 1972. Germany, the third-largest spender in Central and Western Europe, spent USD 56.0 billion on its military in 2021, or 1.3 percent of its GDP. The report added that military spending was 1.4 percent lower compared with 2020 due to inflation.