This is record progress, boosted by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Military spending in Europe will rise again in 2022 to its level at the end of the Cold War, according to a benchmark report published on Monday. Across all continents, military spending reached a new high of $2.24 trillion last year, or 2.2% of global GDP, according to data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri).
“They are pulled by the war in Ukraine, which is pushing up European budgets, but also by the unresolved and growing tensions in East Asia” between China on the one hand and, on the other, the United States and their Asian allies, underlines to AFP the researcher Nan Tian, one of the co-authors of the study. The Old Continent spent, after deducting inflation, 13% more on its armies in a year marked by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, according to the report. This is both the strongest growth recorded for more than thirty years, and the return – in constant dollars – to the level of expenditure of 1989, the year of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
The United States, 39% of global spending
“It’s unheard of since the end of the cold war,” said Nan Tian. Ukraine alone increased its expenditure sevenfold, which jumped to $44 billion – a third of its GDP. And this without counting several tens of billions of armament donations from abroad, specifies the Sipri. Russian spending has increased by 9.2%, according to his estimates. Spending in Europe, which reached $480 billion in 2022, has already increased by more than a third in ten years, and the trend is expected to continue to accelerate in the next decade.
After falling considerably in the 1990s, global military spending had been on the rise since the 2000s. It had been initially driven by major investments by China in its army, then by renewed tensions with the Russia after the annexation of Crimea in 2014. The United States alone accounted for 39% of global spending last year. With China, number 2 (13%), they represent more than half of the world’s military investments.
Overview of the podium
The United States alone accounted for 39% of global spending last year. With China, number 2 (13%), they represent more than half of the world’s military investments. The following, Russia (3.9%), India (3.6%) and Saudi Arabia (3.3%) come far behind. “China is investing heavily in its naval forces, to increase its reach towards Taiwan obviously and beyond towards the South China Sea”, underlines Nan Tian. Opposite, Japan, but also Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and further afield Australia, are trying to keep up.
The United Kingdom is the first European in sixth place (3.1% of the world total) ahead of Germany (2.5%) and France (2.4%) – figures which include donations to the Ukraine. The United Kingdom, second donor behind the United States, “traditionally spends more than Germany and France and has also given more than Germany and France”, underlines Nan Tian, accentuating its status as the first European nation by terms of military spending. In Europe, countries such as Poland, the Netherlands and Sweden are among those which have increased their military investments the most over the past decade.