Driven by war and conflicts, global military spending rose to all-time high in 2023: SIPRI report

Global military spending is at an all-time high, revealed a new report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) released on Monday (Apr 22).

In 2023, military spending lodged its steepest increase in over a decade, rising to an "all-time" high of $2.4 trillion. As per the report, the military-related expenditure rose by 6.8 per cent in 2023, which it says is the "steepest year-on-year increase since 2009."

All-time high

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In conversation with news agency AFP, Nan Tian, a senior researcher at SIPRI, disclosed that "total military spending is at an all-time high … and for the first time since 2009, we saw spending increase across all five geographical regions."

This, Tian said, was "a reflection of the deterioration of peace and security around the world. There's really not a region in the world where things have gotten better."

Globally, the five biggest spenders were the United States, China, Russia, India, and Saudi Arabia.

However, due to the continuation of the war, Europe also recorded particularly large increases, especially in Ukraine, Russia and "a whole host" of European countries, said Tian.

Europe's military spending

Overall, in Europe, Poland increased its military spending by the largest margin — 75 per cent to $31.6 billion.

In 2023, Russia also boosted its spending by 24 per cent, reaching $109 billion. On the other hand, Ukraine's military spending rose by 51 per cent, reaching $64.8 billion.

Additionally, war-torn Kyiv also received $35 billion in military aid, of which the majority came from the US. However, despite that, the combined aid and spending only equalled just over nine-tenths of Russia's spending.

Tian noted that the two nations' overall budget was relatively close in 2023. Nevertheless, for Ukraine, it was 37 per cent of its gross domestic product (GDP) and 58 per cent of all government spending, while for Russia it amounted to just 5.9 per cent of its GDP.

"So the room for Ukraine to increase its spending is now very limited," noted Tian.

Middle East

Driven by the Israel-Hamas war, spending also rose in the Middle East, where Israel saw a 24-per cent increase, to $27.5 billion in 2023.

Saudi Arabia, the region's biggest spender, increased its military expenditure by 4.3 per cent to an estimated $75.8 billion.

Asia and the world

China, as per the report, boosted its spending for the 29th straight year, raising it by six per cent to an estimated $296 billion.

Japan and Taiwan, meanwhile, spent $50.2 billion and $16.6 billion respectively, an increase of 11 per cent for both countries.

India, the world's fourth-largest spender, hiked spending by 4.3 per cent, to $83.6 billion. The US, which is the world's biggest spender, increased its military spending by 2.3 per cent to $916 billion.

Because of the situation in Ukraineand the Middle East, and heightened tensions in Asia, countries, as per Tian, would continue boosting their militaries. "The expectation is that this increasing trend will continue for at least a few years to come," he said.

(With inputs from agencies)