India's military expenditure in 2018 stood at $66.5 billion, Pakistan at $11.4 billion: SIPRI

The United States may have topped the list of biggest spender of military equipment with a whopping $649 billion last year, India too figures in the list ranked No-5 with an expenditure of $66.5 billion,according to a new report released Monday by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute(SIPRI).

China is ranked second with an expenditure of $250 billion, accounting for 14 per cent of the world share. Interestingly, India accounts accounted for just 3.7 per cent of the world military expenditure last year, same as Saudi Arabia which spent marginally higher than India at $67.6 billion, SIPRI noted.

Pakistan's military expenditure stoodat $11.4 billion in 2018, up 73 per cent since 2009. The world share of Pakistan stood at 0.6 per cent. Iran which is facing US oil sanctions since last year saw an expenditure of $13.2 billion on its military, although in real terms it was a dip of 10 per cent since 2009.

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China's military spending rose 83 per cent from 2009 to 2018, the highest in the top-10 list of military spenders. India's military spending in the same period rose 29 per cent. China has spent 1.9 per cent of its gross domestic output (GDP) on military spending since 2013, the report said.

France spent $63.8 billion in 2018 to finish fifth in the list of highest military spenders in the world. Russia was the sixth-largest spender in 2018 with $61.4 billion followed by UK($50 billion), Germany($49.5 billion), Japan($46.6 billion) and South Korea(43.1 billion), the Stockholm-based report said.

US military spending rose for the first time in seven years in 2018. China increased its military expenditure by 5 per cent and India by 3.1 per cent. On the other hand, Saudi Arabia decreased its military spending by 6.5 per cent, France by 1.4 per cent and Russia by 3.5 per cent.

The total military spending of all countries put together was nearly 2.1 per cent of the GDP in 2018, the global military expenditure was at a 30-year high, it said.

Ukraine which has been in a bitter strife with Russia over Crimea since 2014 saw its military expenditure rise 69 per cent from 2009 to 2018. Last year Ukraine spent $4.8 billion on its military.

The biggest percentage change was seen in Romania which increased its military spending by 112 per cent from 2009 to 2018 with an overall expenditure of $4.6 billion last year.