IRIA News

Global military spending reached an all-time high of $2.24 trillion in 2022. The significant increase was largely due to the Russia-Ukraine war that resulted in immense military spending all across Europe.  

Increasing global insecurity was reflected in a report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) on April 24, 2023. According to the data, in 2022 Europe showed by far the steepest increase in military spending in the last 30 years.

The United States accounts for 39% of total military spending

The United States, China, and Russia remained traditionally the largest military spenders accounting for 56 percent of the world total. The United States remains by far the world’s biggest military spender. The U.S. military spending reached $877 billion in 2022, which makes up for 39 percent of total global military spending. The U.S. spent three times more than the amount spent by China, which was the world’s second-largest spender in 2022.

China allocated an estimated $292 billion for military expenditures in 2022. This was 4.2 percent more than in 2021 and 63 percent more than in 2013. China’s military expenditures have been increasing consecutively every year for the last 28 years.

Russia-Ukraine war

Russian military spending grew by an estimated 9.2 percent in 2022, to around $86.4 billion This was equivalent to 4.1 percent of Russia’s gross domestic product (GDP) in 2022, up from 3.7 percent of GDP in 2021.

Ukraine’s military spending reached $44 billion in 2022. At 640 percent, this was the highest single-year increase in a country’s military expenditure ever recorded. Until 2021, Ukraine would spend no more than 3.2 percent of its GDP on defense and military expenditures.  However, as a result of the increase and the war-related damage to Ukraine’s economy, military spending as a share of GDP shot up to 34 percent of GDP in 2022, from 3.2 percent in 2021.

Military expenditure by states in Central and Western Europe totaled $345 billion in 2022. Spending by these states for the first time surpassed the figures from the ending times of the cold war. Several states significantly increased their military spending following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, while others announced plans to raise spending levels over periods of up to a decade.

Japan is diverging from its pacifist constitution amid growing threats from regional rivals. Japan’s newly released national security policy indicates that Japan is planning for the largest military build-up since World War II. Japan’s military spending increased by 5.9 percent between 2021 and 2022, reaching $46 billion. This was the highest level of Japanese military spending since 1960.

Other notable developments

• Military spending by NATO members totaled $1.23 trillion in 2022, which was 0.9 percent higher than in 2021.
• India’s military spending of $81.4 billion was the fourth highest in the world. It was 6 percent more than in 2021.
• Saudi Arabia, the fifth biggest military spender, increased its spending by 16 percent to reach an estimated $75 billion in 2022, its country’s first increase since 2018.
• Nigeria’s military spending fell by 38 percent to $3.1 billion, after a 56 percent increase in spending in 2021.
• The United Kingdom had the highest military spending in Central and Western Europe at $68.5 billion, of which an estimated $2.5 billion was financial military aid to Ukraine.
• Turkey was an exception among the NATO member countries, as its military spending fell for the third year in a row standing at $10.6 billion in 2022, a decrease of 26 percent from 2021.
• Ethiopia was the most prominent among the African nations in terms of military spending as its expenditures rose by 88 percent in 2022, to reach $1.0 billion. The increase coincided with a renewed government offensive against the insurgent groups in the country’s northern areas.