The world’s military spending reached a new record of more than $2 trillion. Who spends the most?
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In 2022, total global military spending increased by 3.7% to a new record of $2.24 trillion – although the US maintains the lead in terms of spending, it grew most rapidly in Europe.
This is stated in publications Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
Last year, world military spending grew for the eighth year in a row and reached an all-time high of $2.24 trillion. The sharpest increase in costs (+13%) was observed in Europe, and was primarily caused by the costs of Ukraine and the Russian Federation. This is the fastest annual growth in at least 30 years.
Last year, the USA, China and Russia recorded the largest expenditures on the army. Together, they accounted for 56% of the total global expenditure. The expenditures of NATO members last year amounted to 1.232 trillion dollars (+0.9%).
Europe is building up its defenses at a record pace
The sharpest growth was observed in Finland (+36%), Lithuania (+27%), Sweden (+12%) and Poland (+11%). It is noted that many former Eastern Bloc countries have more than doubled their military spending since 2014, when Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimea.
Instead, Britain had the highest military expenditure in Central and Western Europe – $68.5 billion, of which approximately $2.5 billion (3.6%) is financial military aid to Ukraine.
Several nations have significantly increased their military spending since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, while others have announced plans to increase spending over a period of up to ten years.
The military expenditures of the states of Central and Western Europe in 2022 amounted to 345 billion dollars. In real terms, spending by these states for the first time exceeded spending in 1989, when the Cold War was ending, and was 30% higher than in 2013.
Russian-Ukrainian war
The largest drivers of military spending in Europe were the Russian Federation and Ukraine. Military spending by the aggressor country increased by 9.2% in 2022, to approximately $86.4 billion. This is equivalent to 4.1% of Russia’s GDP in 2022 compared to 3.7% of GDP in 2021.
National defense spending, the largest component of Russian military spending, was 34% higher than budgeted last year, suggesting that a full-scale invasion of Ukraine cost Russia much more than the aggressor expected.
Ukraine’s military expenditures in 2022 reached $44 billion and increased by 640% over the year. This was the highest one-year increase in the country’s military spending ever recorded in the Institute’s data. As a result of this growth and the damage caused by Russia to Ukraine’s economy, the share of military spending in GDP increased to 34% of GDP in 2022 from 3.2% in 2021.
The US remains the leader
The United States remains the world’s largest military spender. In 2022, spending reached $877 billion, accounting for 39% of total global military spending and three times the amount spent by China, the world’s second-largest spender.
The 0.7% increase in spending is largely due to the unprecedented level of military financial aid they provided to Ukraine. At the same time, such an increase would be even greater if it were not for the highest level of inflation since 1981, the researchers note.
In 2022, US financial military aid to Ukraine amounted to $19.9 billion. Although this is the largest amount of military aid given by any country to a single recipient in any year since the Cold War, it represents only 2.3% of total US military spending.
In 2022, the United States allocated $295 billion for military operations and maintenance, $264 billion for procurement, research and development, and $167 billion for military personnel.
Asia and Oceania: Japan sets records
The total military expenditures of the countries of Asia and Oceania amounted to 575 billion dollars. This is 2.7% more than in 2021 and 45U more than in 2013. This trend continues a continuous upward trend that has been observed since at least 1989.
China remained the second largest military spender in the world, allocating approximately $292 billion in 2022. This is 4.2% more than in 2021 and 63% more than in 2013. China’s military spending has been growing for 28 years in a row.
Japan’s military spending increased by 5.9% between 2021 and 2022, reaching $46 billion, or 1.1% of GDP. This is the highest level of Japanese military spending since 1960.
A new national security strategy released in 2022 outlines ambitious plans to increase Japan’s military capabilities over the next decade in response to growing threats from China, North Korea and Russia.
India’s military spending of $81.4 billion (+6% YoY) was the fourth largest in the world. The country with the fifth largest military budget is Saudi Arabia, whose spending increased by 16% and reached $75 billion, which was the first increase since 2018.
In contrast to the above-mentioned countries, in 2022 Turkey’s military spending decreased for the third year in a row, reaching $10.6 billion, which is 26% less than in 2021.
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