The US spent 38% of global spending, followed by China with around $293 billion. For the first time, Iran is in the top 15. Saudi Arabia’s budget has been significantly reduced.
Global military spending surpassed two trillion dollars for the first time in 2021 – a sixteen-digit number, that is, a two followed by 15 zeros. This emerges from a report by the Stockholm Peace Research Institute (Sipri), published Monday night. With annual expenditures of $801 billion (735.74 million euros), the United States remains by far the biggest spender on armed forces and armaments. In second place is China, with an estimated US$ 293 billion.
The United States accounted for 38% of global spending. However, in the case of the United States, there has been a real decline of 6.1% since 2012 and 1.4% since 2020. According to Sipri, this reduction is mainly due to rising inflation in the US and the withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. Beijing is likely to have increased its spending by 72% since 2012.
Other strong increases in military spending over the past nine years can be seen in Turkey (63%), Finland (50%) and Greece (54%). Ukraine (142%), in whose eastern regions a civil war has been raging since 2014, and Romania (161%) reached the absolute maximum values. However, in the year before Russia invaded Ukraine, Kiev’s military spending dropped by 8.5%.
Spending in Saudi Arabia has fallen particularly sharply
Saudi Arabia’s spending dropped particularly sharply last year, by 17%. Iran, on the other hand, spent more money on the military again in 2021 and, with annual spending of $24.6 billion, entered the top 15 for the first time.
According to Sipri, when it comes to military spending as a proportion of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Oman is at the top with 7.3% and Saudi Arabia with 6.6% – both are estimated figures. According to official data, Kuwait (6.7 percent), Algeria (5.6), Israel (5.2), Qatar (4.8) and Russia (4.1) also reach the top positions here. In the year before the attack on Ukraine, Moscow had increased its military spending by 2.9% after a weaker phase, reports the Stockholm Institute.
(APA/dpa)