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Why Global Military spending rising and its meaning ? SIPRI REPORT ON MILITARY SPENDING , pandemic did not have a significant impact on global military spending

Wifiee May 14, 2021


SIPRI REPORT ON MILITARY SPENDING

According to new data published by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), the total global military expenditure rose to $1981 billion last year, an increase of 2.6 per cent in real terms from 2019.

The top five countries together accounted for 62 per cent of global military expenditure. The big five include:

  1. The United States
  2. China
  3. India
  4. Russia and 
  5. The United Kingdom

Top Five Importers

The five largest arms importers were:

  1. Saudi Arabia
  2. India
  3. Egypt
  4. Australia and
  5. China

Top Five Exporters

The top five global arms exporters (in 2016-2020) have been the:

  1. US
  2. Russia
  3. France
  4. Germany and
  5. China

Key Observations 

  • According to October 2020 projection by the International Monetary Fund, world military spending registered 2.6 per cent increase in the year 2020. This increase was mainly due to contraction of global gross domestic product (GDP) by 4.4 per cent largely due to the economic impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.
  • As a result, the military burden (i.e., military spending as a share of GDP) reached a global average of 2.4 per cent in 2020, up from 2.2 per cent in 2019- the biggest year-on-year rise in the military burden since the 2009 global financial and economic crisis.
  • Some countries like Chile and South Korea explicitly reallocated part of their planned military spending to pandemic response and some others like Brazil and Russia had reduced initial military budgets for 2020.

  • US military spending: US registered a strong rise in military expenditure in 2020. US military expenditure reached an estimated $778 billion- an increase of 4.4 per cent over 2019-  accounted for 39 per cent of total military expenditure in 2020. This rise in military expenditure is largely attributed to heavy investment in research and development, and several long-term projects such as modernizing the US nuclear arsenal and large-scale arms procurement.

  • China’s military expenditure: China’s military expenditure, the second highest in the world, is estimated to have totaled $252 billion in 2020. This was an increase of 1.9 per cent over 2019 and 76 per cent over the decade 2011–20. The China's Military spending has been growing continuously for the last 26 years. However, China has not increased its military burden in 2020 despite increasing its military expenditure because of its positive GDP growth last year.  The current growth in Chinese military spending is due in part to the country’s long-term military modernization and expansion plans so as to catch up with other leading military powers.

  • NATO members passed the spending target: Almost all members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) saw their military burden rise in 2020. As a result, 12 NATO members spent 2 per cent or more of their GDP on their militaries.  

  • UK: The UK became the fifth largest spender with a total of $59.2 billion in 2020. The UK’s military spending was 2.9 per cent higher than in 2019, but 4.2 per cent lower than in 2011. 
  • Germany: Germany increased its spending by 5.2 per cent to $52.8 billion, becoming the seventh largest spender in 2020. Germany’s military expenditure was 28 per cent higher than in 2011. Military spending across Europe rose by 4.0 per cent in 2020.
  • Military Spending in Asia: India ($72.9 billion), Japan ($49.1 billion), South Korea ($45.7 billion) and Australia ($27.5 billion) were the largest military spenders in the Asia and Oceania region. The SIPRI report said the Arms imports by India decreased by 33 per cent between 2011–15 and 2016–20. However, India has remained the second highest importer, next only to Saudi Arabia. 
  • Africa: Military expenditure in sub-Saharan Africa increased by 3.4 per cent in 2020 to reach $18.5 billion.
  • The countries with the biggest increases in military burden among the top 15 spenders in 2020 were Saudi Arabia (+0.6 percentage points), Russia (+0.5 percentage points), Israel (+0.4 percentage points) and the USA (+0.3 percentage points).

Conclusion

The report says with some certainty that the pandemic did not have a significant impact on global military spending in 2020 and it remains to be seen whether countries will maintain this level of military spending through a second year of the pandemic.

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