Globally, the amount spent on armaments reached almost 2.5 trillion dollars
In the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, countries began spending record amounts on defense and war. In 2023, the world spent 2.446 trillion dollars on armaments, while the top five countries, the United States, China, Russia, India and Saudi Arabia, spent a total of more than 1.480 trillion dollars on defense and war expenditures.
Global military spending will reach a record high of $2.443 trillion (+6.8% YoY) in 2023. "Vedomosti" mentions this in the report of Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) .
Defense spending growth last year was the highest since 2009. The greatest growth was recorded in Europe, Asia, Oceania and the Middle East, SIPRI experts noted . According to experts, this is "a direct response to the global deterioration of peace and security".
Lorenzo Scarazato, a research fellow at the institute's program on military spending and weapons production, said Russia's two-year invasion of Ukraine "has fundamentally changed the security landscape."
"This change in threat perception is reflected in the increasing share of GDP allocated to military spending, with NATO's 2 percent goal seen as more of a benchmark than a threshold to be reached," he explained.
Russia's military spending will increase by 24% in 2023, reaching 5.9% of GDP. Ukraine's expenses increased by 51% (37% of GDP ). Meanwhile, according to SIPRI, including Western aid, Kiev's defense spending was about 91 percent of Russia's.
"Russia's military spending growth in 2023 is largely driven by economic performance, which exceeded expectations despite a significant decline in the country's oil and gas revenues," the review said. Referring to Russia's state budget for 2024-2026, SIPRI predicts that Moscow will continue to increase military spending in the coming years.
The US remains the leader in military spending. Last year, Washington spent 916 billion dollars (3.4% of GDP ) for these purposes. The top five are China ($296 billion; 1.7% of GDP), Russia ($109 billion; 5.9% of GDP), India ($83.6 billion; 2.4% of GDP) and Saudi Arabia ($75.8 billion dollars; 7.1 percent of GDP). Together, they account for 61 percent of world military spending (more than $1.480 trillion) . Ukraine took eighth place.
In 2023, Israel, ranked 15th at the time of the Gaza war, invested 24% more in defense than in 2022, bringing its spending in this area to $27.5 billion; After Saudi Arabia, Israel is the second largest military spender in the Middle East.
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