Despite the corona epidemic, humanity has not spent as much money on its military as it did at least from 1988 to 2020. Military spending has increased by 2.6 percent compared to 2019.
This was stated by Stockholm’s International Peace Research Institute in its annual report on global military spending.
The company estimates that 2.4 percent of the world’s GDP goes to military spending. That’s almost two trillion dollars, more precisely 1981 billion dollars.
GDP, i.e. GDP, measures the value of GDP, i.e. the value of all the goods and services we produce during the year.
In Euros, that means about 1640 billion. In comparison, in 2019 Finland spent 3.5 3.5 billion on defense.
America is the largest in the class: 39 percent of total spending
Surprisingly, the United States is responsible for most of the costs. At Donald Trump’s White House last year, military spending rose four percent to $ 778 billion. It accounts for 39 percent of the world’s military spending.
This is similar to the list of the following twelve major expenses incurred.
On the other hand, it is 10 percent less than what Americans put in the military a decade ago, and that country set its own record. Since 2016, spending has started to rise again.
Old acquaintances in the first -10
Although – or thank you? – Name, we see five permanent members of the UN Security Council at the top of Sibri’s list.
After the United States, China is estimated at $ 252 billion – Russia and Britain are ranked fourth and fifth, respectively, at $ 60 billion each.
Fifth Councilor France is in eighth place with $ 52.5 billion, beating Germany.
Russia’s military spending rose again after a one – year hiatus in 2020, and has increased by a quarter since 2011.
Warplanes train during a military exercise called Zabat.
Image: EPA-EFE
India is the third largest spender on the military in the world, at nearly $ 73 billion. India has increased its military spending by a third since 2011. This is even more so compared to the Chinese who spent 75 percent more on the military last year compared to 2011.
Saudi Arabia was sixth, Japan ninth and South Korea tenth.
In the top 40 are Norway, Sweden and Denmark
Among the 40 countries that spent the most were Norway (28th), Sweden (33rd) and Denmark (39th). All three have significantly increased their military spending over the past ten years – Norway 37 percent, Sweden 34 percent and Denmark 24 percent.
Finland is not in the top 40.
Africa increased the most, while Central Asia declined significantly
Countries that have increased military spending from 2019 to 2020 are mostly found in Africa. Uganda (+46 percent), Chad (+31), Nigeria and Morocco (both +29) led the way, while the continent as a whole increased its military spending by 5.1 percent overall.
Myanmar’s military spending rose to second in the world, 41 percent, and Montenegro shares fourth with Nigeria and Morocco with its 29 percent increase.
Central Asia was the region with the lowest spending, at 8.4 percent. Only the other two regions cut their spending, with South America -2.1 percent and Central America and the Caribbean -0.2 percent.
Nonetheless, none of the countries in these three regions have reduced their spending significantly.
Kazakhstan’s military spending fell 9.2 percent and Trinidad and Tobago’s 8.8 percent. It is noteworthy that eight out of 14 African countries and one Central European country (Bulgaria) have drastically reduced their military spending, while spending has increased significantly in Central Europe, North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa.
The global arms trade is stagnant
Although military spending has been very high since 1988, the volume of the arms trade has not increased significantly in the last five years.
According to another report by Sibri released in mid-March, the arms trade has grown by only half a percent since 2016.
The United States, Russia, France, Germany and China are the world’s five largest arms exporters, accounting for three-quarters of the world’s arms trade between 2016 and 2020. The United States alone is 37 percent.
Of these, however, Russia’s arms trade is down 22 percent from the previous five years.
India’s military spending increased by 2.1 percent last year, and in 2016-2020, the country accounted for 9.5 percent of all arms imports in the world.
A dozen soldiers walk down a street lined up on the right side of a brick wall.
Photo: EPA-EFE / All Over Press
Sweden is the world’s fifteenth largest arms exporter, but less than one percent of the market.
Saudi Arabia and India have been importing more weapons – together they bought one-fifth of all weapons between 2016 and 2020. One-tenth of the countries in Europe have run out of weapons.
Source: Stockholm International Peace Research Institute Sibri
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