Sharp jump in global military spending

Kathmandu: World military spending has reached an all-time high of $2.24 trillion in 2022, as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine fuelled a sharp jump in military spending across Europe, according to a leading defence think tank.

Global spending rose for the eighth consecutive year, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said on Monday in its annual report on global military expenditure.

There was a 13 percent rise in Europe, the steepest in at least 30 years.

SIPRI said most of that was linked to Russia and Ukraine, but other countries also stepped up military spending in response to perceived Russian threats.

Moscow’s move to invade Ukraine in 2014 has spread alarm among other countries that neighbour Russia or were once part of the Soviet Union’s sphere of influence, with Finland’s spending up 36 percent and Lithuania’s military spending up by 27 percent, according to SIPRI.

In April, Finland, whose border with Russia stretches some 1,340km (833 miles), became the 31st member of NATO. Sweden, which has avoided military alliances for more than 200 years, also wants to join.

The think tank said military spending in Ukraine surged more than six times to $44bn in 2022, the highest single-year increase in a country’s military expenditure ever recorded in SIPRI data.

Russian military spending grew by an estimated 9.2 per cent in 2022, to about $86.4bn, according to SIPRI. That was equivalent to 4.1 per cent of Russia’s 2022 GDP, up from 3.7 percent in 2021.

The United States remained the world’s largest military spender — up 0.7 percent to $877bn in 2022 — which was 39 percent of total global military spending. The increase was largely driven by ‘the unprecedented level of financial military aid it provided to Ukraine,’ SIPRI’s Nan Tian said.

China remained the world’s second-largest military spender, allocating an estimated $292bn in 2022. This was 4.2 percent more than in 2021 and represents the 28th consecutive annual increase.

Meanwhile, Japan spent $46bn on the military in 2022, a rise of 5.9 percent from the previous year. SIPRI said it was the highest level of Japanese military spending since 1960.