Global military spending is at a “cold war” level

Global military spending has risen sharply to its highest level within three decades in 2019, largely due to higher military budgets in the United States, China and India, according to a report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) that was made public on Tuesday April 04.

According to the report, global military spending totaled $ 1.91 trillion in 2019, an increase of 3.6% compared to 2018. This is the largest increase since 2010, which led them to an all-time high since the end of the Cold War in 1989.

World military expenditure, by region, 1988–2019 © STOCKHOLM INTERNATIONAL PEACE RESEARCH INSTITUTE

However, military spending, which probably peaked last year, will fall sharply this year, given the huge economic impact of the new coronavirus pandemic.

“I would suggest that this was the climax, because the economic recession due to COVID-19 will have a major impact on public budgets of all types (public) of spending in 2020,” explained Niania Tian, a researcher at SIPRI.

He added that “historical evidence” suggests that military spending would escalate, as it did after the 2008-2009 financial crisis, which “is not even close to what we see now”.

Tian reminded that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) expects a significant contraction in GDP in 2020.

Governments “will start estimating where to distribute money. They need to consider health, education and infrastructure expenditure in relation to military spending,” he said. 

Regarding the 2019 military spending, he noted that the factors that led to this rise were the increase in US spending over the past two years (+ 5.3%), which really pushed the global total even higher as well as the rise and emergence of China and India, which are now among the three countries with the highest (military) expenditures” on the planet.

The United States is by far the country with the largest military spending – $ 732 billion, which amounts to 38% of global expenditure. The United States has spent as much as the next 10 countries on the list, according to SIPRI.

Source: ANA MPA