World military spending is rising for the ninth year

Global military spending has risen for the ninth consecutive year to a record high of $2,443 billion, as war, rising tensions and insecurity take hold in various parts of the world.

For the first time since 2009, military spending increased in all five geographic regions defined by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), with particularly large increases recorded in Europe, Asia, Oceania and the Middle East.

“The unprecedented increase in military spending is a direct response to the global deterioration of peace and security. States are prioritizing military strength, but they risk an action-reaction spiral in the increasingly volatile geopolitical and security landscape,” said Nan Tian, ​​senior researcher at SIPRI’s Military Expenditure and Arms Production Program, coinciding with the release of new data on global military expenditure. .

SIPRI found that military expenditure in Africa totaled $51.6 billion in 2023. This was 22% higher than in 2022 and 1.5% higher than in 2014. The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) had the largest percentage increase in military expenditure – 105% – of any country in 2023. There was and is of a long-term conflict between the government and non-state armed groups.

South Sudan recorded the second largest percentage increase at 78%, amid internal violence and the spillover from the Sudanese civil war.

Last year, military spending in Algeria grew by 76% to $18.3 billion. This is the highest level of spending Algeria has ever recorded and was largely due to a sharp increase in gas export revenues to countries in Europe as they turn away from Russian supplies.

European defense spending is increasing

SIPRI found that Russia’s military spending increased by 24% to an estimated $109 billion in 2023, a 57% increase since 2014, the year Russia annexed Crimea. In 2023, Russian military expenditure constituted 16% of total government expenditure and military burden (military expenditure as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP)) amounted to 5.9%.

Ukraine was the eighth biggest spender in 2023, after spending rose 51% to $64.8 billion. This left Ukraine with a military burden of 37% and represented 58% of total government expenditure.

Ukraine’s military spending was 59% greater than Russia’s in 2023. Ukraine also received at least $35 billion in military aid during the year, including $25.4 billion from the United States (US). Combined, this aid and Ukraine’s own military spending amounted to about 91% of Russia’s spending.

In 2023, NATO’s 31 members accounted for $1,341 billion, 55% of the world’s military expenditure. US military spending increased by 2.3% to $916 billion in 2023, representing 68% of NATO’s total military spending. In 2023, most European NATO members increased military spending. Their combined share of the NATO total was 28%, the highest in a decade. The remaining four percent came from Canada and Turkey, SIPRI data show.

“For European NATO countries, the past two years of war in Ukraine have fundamentally changed the security outlook. This shift in threat perceptions is reflected in an increasing share of GDP going to military spending, with NATO’s two percent target increasingly seen as a baseline rather than a threshold to achieve,” says Lorenzo Scarazzato, researcher at SIPRI’s Military Expenditure and Arms Production Program. , said.

Ten years after NATO formally committed to the target of spending two percent of GDP on the military, 11 of NATO’s 31 members reached or exceeded this level by 2023 – the highest level since the commitment was made . Another target – to spend at least 20% of military expenditure on ‘equipment expenditure’ – was met by 28 NATO members by 2023, up from seven in 2014.

China, the world’s second largest military spender, allocated an estimated $296 billion to the military in 2023, an increase of six percent from 2022. This was the 29th consecutive year-over-year increase in Chinese military spending. China accounted for half of the total military expenditure in the Asia-Pacific region. According to SIPRI, several of China’s neighbors linked the increase in spending to China’s rising military expenditure

Japan allocated $50.2 billion to its military in 2023, up 11 percent from 2022. Taiwan’s military spending also rose 11% in 2023 to $16.6 billion.

“China is spending a large part of its growing military budget on increasing the combat readiness of the People’s Liberation Army. This has prompted the governments of Japan, Taiwan and others to significantly build up their military capabilities, a trend that will further accelerate in the coming years,” said Xiao Liang, researcher at SIPRI’s Military Expenditure and Arms Production Program.

War and tensions in the Middle East are causing an increase in spending

Estimated military spending in the Middle East has increased by nine percent to $200 billion in 2023 – the highest annual growth rate in the region in the past decade.

Israel’s military spending – the second largest in the region after Saudi Arabia – grew by 24% to $27.5 billion in 2023. The increase in spending was mainly driven by Israel’s large-scale offensive in Gaza in response to the attack on southern Israel by Hamas in October 2023. .

“The big increase in military spending in the Middle East in 2023 reflected the rapidly changing situation in the region – from the warming of diplomatic relations between Israel and several Arab countries in recent years to the outbreak of a major war in Gaza and the fear of conflict across the region,” said Diego Lopes da Silva, senior researcher at SIPRI’s Military Expenditure and Arms Production Program.

Another notable development is that India was the fourth largest military spender globally in 2023. At $83.6 billion, military spending was 4.2% higher than in 2022.