The death business is thriving in a way it hasn’t in a long time. Military spending hit record levels in the second year of the pandemic. Global military spending increased by 0.7% in real terms to US$2,113 billion in 2021. The top five donors in 2021 are the US, China, India, the UK and Russia, which together account for 62% of spending. This comes from new data on global military spending released today (Monday) by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
Global military spending continued to grow in 2021, reaching an all-time high of $2.1 trillion. This was the seventh year in a row that spending increased.
What is SIPRI? The Stockholm Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) is an independent research institute for the global arms trade. It has existed since 1966 and was founded on the 150th anniversary of unbroken peace on Swedish soil. Since then, it has been funded by the Swedish Parliament and is made up of an international group of researchers. In addition to the global nuclear weapons inventory figures, SIPRI also publishes data on the development of the international trade in conventional weapons, the largest arms importing and exporting countries and many other studies on the topic of war and peace.
Despite the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, global military spending has reached record levels,” said Diego Lopes da Silva, senior researcher at the SIPRI program on military spending and defense production. Real growth has slowed due to inflation. In nominal terms , military spending increased, however, by 6.1%.
As a result of a strong economic recovery in 2021, the global military burden – military spending as a percentage of global gross domestic product (GDP) – dropped by 0.1 percentage point, from 2.3% in 2020 to 2.2% in 2021.
The US focused on military research and development
US military spending was $801 billion in 2021, down 1.4% from 2020. The US military burden dropped slightly from 3.7% of GDP in 2020 to 3.5% in 2021.
US military research and development (R&D) spending increased by 24% between 2012 and 2021, while spending on defense purchases dropped by 6.4% over the same period. In 2021, spending in both areas will decline. However, the decline in R&D spending (-1.2%) was smaller than the decline in defense procurement spending (-5.4%).
The increase in R&D spending in the 2012-21 decade suggests that the United States is increasing its focus on next-generation technologies,” said Alexandra Marksteiner, researcher at SIPRI’s Military Expenditure and Defense Production program. of the US military over strategic competitors.
Russia significantly increased its military budget in the run-up to the war in Ukraine.
Moscow increased its military spending by 2.9% to $65.9 billion in 2021 – at a time when it was upgrading its military along the Ukrainian border. This was the third consecutive year of growth, and Russia’s military spending reached 4.1% of GDP in 2021.
High oil and gas revenues, thanks to buyer countries like Germany, have helped Russia increase its military spending in 2021.
“Russian military spending fell between 2016 and 2019 due to low energy prices combined with sanctions in response to Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014,” said Lucie Béraud-Sudreau, director of SIPRI’s military spending and defense production program.
The national defense budget line, which accounts for about three-quarters of Russia’s total military spending and includes funds for operational costs and defense procurement, was revised upwards during the year. The final amount was US$ 48.4 billion, 14% higher than the amount budgeted for the end of 2020.
As Ukraine has beefed up its defenses against Russia, its military spending has increased by 72% since the annexation of Crimea in 2014. In 2021, spending dropped to $5.9 billion, but it still accounted for 3.2% of the country’s GDP. parents.
Continued increase in spending by major countries in Asia and Oceania
China, as the world’s second largest donor, is estimated to spend $293 billion on its military in 2021, up 4.7% from 2020. China’s military spending has increased for 27 consecutive years. China’s 2021 budget was the first of the 14th five-year plan, which runs until 2025.
After the initial approval of its 2021 budget, the Japanese government increased military spending by $7 billion. As a result, spending increased by 7.3% to US$54.1 billion in 2021, the biggest annual increase since 1972. Australian military spending also increased in 2021: 4.0% to US$31.8 billion.
“China’s growing assertiveness in and around the South and East China Seas has become a major driver of military spending in countries like Australia and Japan,” said SIPRI Research Director Nan Tian. One example is the AUKUS trilateral security agreement between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States, which provides for the delivery of eight nuclear-powered submarines to Australia at an estimated cost of up to US$128 billion.
Other developments were also notable: in 2021, Iran’s military budget was increased to $24.6 billion for the first time in four years. Funding for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps continued to increase in 2021 – 14% compared to 2020 – and accounted for 34% of Iran’s total military spending.
Eight European NATO members have achieved the alliance’s target of spending 2% or more of GDP on their armed forces by 2021.
In Africa, Nigeria has increased its military spending by 56% to $4.5 billion in 2021. This increase is a response to various security challenges such as violent extremism and separatist insurgencies.
Germany, the third largest country in Central and Western Europe, spent US$56.0 billion on its military in 2021, equivalent to 1.3% of its GDP. Military spending was 1.4% lower than in 2020 due to inflation.
In the Arab world, Qatar’s military spending in 2021 was $11.6 billion, making the country the fifth largest donor in the Middle East. Qatar’s military spending in 2021 was 434% higher than in 2010, when the country last released spending data before 2021.
India’s military spending of $76.6 billion is the third highest in the world. This represents an increase of 0.9% from 2020 and 33% from 2012. In an effort to strengthen the domestic defense industry, 64% of India’s military budget investment spending in 2021 was earmarked for the purchase of weapons made in the country.