The total global military spending reached a new high of $2240 billion in 2022, an increase of 3.7 percent in real terms, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), which states that the Ukraine war spurred global military expenditure.

The Swedish think tank noted that military spending in Europe saw its sharpest year-on-year increase in at least 30 years. The increased spending was largely accounted for by Russian and Ukrainian spending.

The three largest spenders in 2022—the United States, China and Russia—accounted for 56 percent of the world total, according to new data on global military spending published today by the SIPRI.

Military aid to Ukraine and concerns about a heightened threat from Russia strongly influenced many other states’ spending decisions, as did tensions in East Asia.

“The invasion of Ukraine had an immediate impact on military spending decisions in Central and Western Europe. This included multi-year plans to boost spending from several governments,” said Dr Diego Lopes da Silva, Senior Researcher with SIPRI’s Military Expenditure and Arms Production Programme. “As a result, we can reasonably expect military expenditure in Central and Western Europe to keep rising in the years ahead.”

Some of the sharpest increases were seen in Finland (+36 percent), Lithuania (+27 percent), Sweden (+12 percent) and Poland (+11 percent).

As per the SIPRI report, India was the fourth-largest military spender in the world, following the United States, China, and Russia. India’s military spending of $81.4 billion was the fourth highest in the world. It was 6.0 per cent more than in 2021.

Dr Nan Tian, Senior Researcher with SIPRI’s Military Expenditure and Arms Production Program, said, “The continuous rise in global military expenditure in recent years is a sign that we are living in an increasingly insecure world. States are bolstering military strength in response to a deteriorating security environment, which they do not foresee improving in the near future.”

Military expenditure by states in Central and Western Europe totaled $345 billion in 2022. In real terms, spending by these states surpassed that in 1989, as the Cold War was ending, and was 30 percent higher than in 2013.

Several states significantly increased their military spending following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, while others announced plans to raise spending levels over periods of up to a decade.

While India’s spending increased, it still lags behind China and the US.

Despite high levels of inflation, US military spending reached $877 billion in 2022, which was 39 percent of total global military spending and three times more than the amount spent by China, the world’s second-largest spender.

Meanwhile, China remained the world’s second-largest military spender, allocating an estimated $292 billion in 2022. This was 4.2 per cent more than in 2021 and 63 per cent more than in 2013. China’s military expenditure has increased for 28 consecutive years.

“The increase in the USA’s military spending in 2022 was largely accounted for by the unprecedented level of financial military aid it provided to Ukraine,” said Dr Nan Tian, SIPRI Senior Researcher. “Given the scale of US spending, even a minor increase in percentage terms has a significant impact on the level of global military expenditure.”

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