*Total global military expenditure increased by 0.7 per cent in real termsin 2021 with the five largest spenders in 2021 being the United States,China, India, the United Kingdom and Russia,according to new data on globalmilitary spending published today by the Stockholm International PeaceResearch Institute (SIPRI)link)..*
World military spending continued to grow in 2021, reaching an all-timehigh of $2.1 trillion. This was the seventh consecutive year that spendingincreased.
‘Even amid the economic fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic, world militaryspending hit record levels,’ said Dr Diego Lopes da Silva, SeniorResearcher with SIPRI’s Military Expenditure and Arms Production Programme.‘There was a slowdown in the rate of real-terms growth due to inflation. Innominal terms, however, military spending grew by 6.1 per cent.’
As a result of a sharp economic recovery in 2021, the global militaryburden—world military expenditure as a share of world gross domesticproduct (GDP)—fell by 0.1 percentage points, from 2.3 per cent in 2020 to2.2 per cent in 2021.
[image: India military spending]*United States **focuses* *on** military research and development*
US military spending amounted to $801 billion in 2021, a drop of 1.4 percent from 2020. The US military burden decreased slightly from 3.7 per centof GDP in 2020 to 3.5 per cent in 2021.
US funding for military research and development (R&D) rose by 24 per centbetween 2012 and 2021, while arms procurement funding fell by 6.4 per centover the same period. In 2021 spending on both decreased. However, the dropin R&D spending (–1.2 per cent) was smaller than that in arms procurementspending (–5.4 per cent).
‘The increase in R&D spending over the decade 2012–21 suggests that theUnited States is focusing more on next-generation technologies,’ saidAlexandra Marksteiner, Researcher with SIPRI’s Military Expenditure andArms Production Programme. ‘The US Government has repeatedly stressed theneed to preserve the US military’s technological edge over strategiccompetitors.’*Russia increases military budget in run-up to war*
Russia increased its military expenditure by 2.9 per cent in 2021, to $65.9billion, at a time when it was building up its forces along the Ukrainianborder. This was the third consecutive year of growth and Russia’s militaryspending reached 4.1 per cent of GDP in 2021.
Read Top Stories
‘High oil and gas revenues helped Russia to boost its military spending in2021. Russian military expenditure had been in decline between 2016 and2019 as a result of low energy prices combined with sanctions in responseto Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014,’ said Lucie Béraud-Sudreau,Director of SIPRI’s Military Expenditure and Arms Production Programme.
The ‘national defence’ budget line, which accounts for aroundthree-quarters of Russia’s total military spending and includes funding foroperational costs as well as arms procurement, was revised upwards over thecourse of the year. The final figure was $48.4 billion, 14 per cent higherthan had been budgeted at the end of 2020.
As it has strengthened its defences against Russia, Ukraine’s militaryspending has risen by 72 per cent since the annexation of Crimea in 2014.Spending fell in 2021, to $5.9 billion, but still accounted for 3.2 percent of the country’s GDP.*Continued increases by major spenders in Asia and Oceania*
China, the world’s second largest spender, allocated an estimated $293billion to its military in 2021, an increase of 4.7 per cent compared with2020. China’s military spending has grown for 27 consecutive years. The2021 Chinese budget was the first under the 14th Five-Year Plan, which runsuntil 2025.
Following initial approval of its 2021 budget, the Japanese Governmentadded $7.0 billion to military spending. As a result, spending rose by 7.3per cent, to $54.1 billion in 2021, the highest annual increase since 1972.Australian military spending also increased in 2021: by 4.0 per cent, toreach $31.8 billion.
‘China’s growing assertiveness in and around the South and the East Chinaseas have become a major driver of military spending in countries such asAustralia and Japan,’ said SIPRI Senior Researcher Dr Nan Tian. ‘An exampleis the AUKUS trilateral security agreement between Australia, the UnitedKingdom and the United States that foresees the supply of eightnuclear-powered submarines to Australia at an estimated cost of up to $128billion.’*Other notable developments: *
– In 2021 *Iran*’s military budget increased for the first time in four years, to $24.6 billion. Funding for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps continued to grow in 2021—by 14 per cent compared with 2020—and accounted for 34 per cent of Iran’s total military spending. – Eight European* North Atlantic Treaty Organization *(NATO) members reached the Alliance’s target of spending 2 per cent or more of GDP on their armed forces in 2021. This is one fewer than in 2020 but up from two in 2014. – *Nigeria* raised its military spending by 56 per cent in 2021, to reach $4.5 billion. The rise came in response to numerous security challenges such as violent extremism and separatist insurgencies. – *Germany*—the third largest spender in Central and Western Europe—spent $56.0 billion on its military in 2021, or 1.3 per cent of its GDP. Military spending was 1.4 per cent lower compared with 2020 due to inflation. – In 2021 *Qatar*’s military spending was $11.6 billion, making it the fifth largest spender in the Middle East. Qatar’s military spending in 2021 was 434 per cent higher than in 2010, when the country last released spending data before 2021. – *India*’s military spending of $76.6 billion ranked third highest in the world. This was up by 0.9 per cent from 2020 and by 33 per cent from 2012. In a push to strengthen the indigenous arms industry, 64 per cent of capital outlays in the military budget of 2021 were earmarked for acquisitions of domestically produced arms.
