The world military expenditure reached $2,113 billion in 2021, a report by SIPRI - an independent international institute conducting research on conflicts, armaments, disarmament and arms control, claimed on Tuesday. The United States was the leader on the board with a military expenditure of $801 billion, followed by China which spent $293 billion. These countries accounted for 38 per cent and 14 per cent of the world share.
India was the third highest with its spending touching $76.6 billion last year, up by 0.9 per cent from 2020 and by 33 per cent from 2012.
The SIPRI research further revealed that the top five countries with the most military expenditure in the world accounted for $1,305 billion of the cumulative $2,113 billion last year. Meanwhile, the spending by the top 15 nations touched $1717 billion, accounting for 81 per cent of the worldwide share.
Also, Iran has been ranked in the top 15 for the first time in 20 years as the nation increased its expenditure by 11 per cent in 2021.
{{/usCountry}}Also, Iran has been ranked in the top 15 for the first time in 20 years as the nation increased its expenditure by 11 per cent in 2021.
{{/usCountry}}The report comes at a time the world is grappling with the effects of the Russia-Ukraine war that has been ongoing for more than two months now.
The SIPRI findings, however, state that the economic effects of the Covid-19 pandemic did not pose a hurdle to the upward movement in world military spending since 2015.
“As a result of the strong economic recovery across the globe in 2021, world military spending as a share of world GDP reached 2.2 per cent, down from 2.3 per cent in 2020. Average military spending as a share of government expenditure in 2021 remained the same as in 2020, 5.9 per cent,” the report said.
Here's a list of the top 15 countries in the SIPRI world military expenditure 2021 as per its respective figures and percentage of global share:
1. The US ($801 billion, accounting for 30%)
2. China ($292 billion, accounting for 14%)
3. India ($76.6 billion, accounting for 3.6%)
4. The UK ($68.4 billion, accounting for 3.2%)
5. Russia ($65.9 billion, accounting for 3.1%)
6. France ($56.6 billion, accounting for 2.7%)
7. Germany ($56 billion, accounting for 2.7%)
8. Saudi Arabia ($55.6 billion, accounting for 2.6%)
9. Japan ($54.1 billion, accounting for 2.6%)
10. South Korea ($50.2 billion, accounting for 2.4%)
11. Italy ($32 billion, accounting for 1.5%)
12. Australia ($31.8 billion, accounting for 1.5%)
13. Canada ($26.4 billion, accounting for 1.3%)
14. Iran ($24.6 billion, accounting for 1.2%)
15. Israel ($24.3 billion, accounting for 1.2%)