The world’s total military expenditure surpassed $2.24 trillion last year, with Europe recording its steepest rise in the past three decades, according to the annual military expenditure report of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). The report was published on April 24.
The annual report notes that global military expenditure rose by 3.7% last year. 2022 was the eighth consecutive year of increasing global defense spending.
The United States remains by far the largest global spender with a military expenditure of over $877 billion in 2022 — three times more than the second largest spender, China, which spent $292 billion. $19.9 billion of the US military expenditure was military aid to Ukraine.
The US and its NATO allies have been the primary reason for the rising military expenditure and weaponisation in the world.
The US alone accounts for 39% of the world’s total military expenditure. This is more than the total military expenditure of the rest of the top 10 military spenders, including China, Russia and India. According to a SIPRI press release, the 31 NATO members together spent over $1.23 trillion — more than half of the world’s total military expenditure in 2022.
[From Peoples Dispatch/Globetrotter News Service.]