Global military spending and weapons spending in 2023 will be higher than in the past 35 years, due in part to the war in Ukraine and the threat of further Russian aggression, according to an independent analysis released Monday.
The study, by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, concluded that global military spending reached $2.4 trillion last year, an increase of 6.8 percent from 2022. Rising tensions across Asia and the Middle East are also contributing to the increase, analysts found. As the world's largest military spender and arms supplier, each country alone spent $916 billion, more than a third of the total.
“The unprecedented increase in military spending is in direct response to the global deterioration of peace and security,” said Nan Tian, a senior researcher at the institute, which has tracked military spending since at least 1988. Ta.
He spoke of an “increasingly unstable geopolitical and security situation.”
Ukraine spent $64.8 billion on its military in 2023 after its first full year of war with Russia. This accounted for 58% of total government spending and 37% of gross domestic product last year. According to analysts, only seven other countries spent more on military and defense spending than Ukraine in 2023.
One of them is Russia, which Tian estimates spent $109 billion last year, more than any other country except the United States and China. Tian said the forecast was based on the $75 billion Russia had already spent in 2023, announced last September, and that depending on the value of the ruble, Russia's military spending could rise to $127 billion this year. He added that there is.
In any case, despite the secrecy and disinformation surrounding Russia's defense investments, the institute estimates that Russia will spend about 16 percent of total government spending on the military in 2023, or 5.9 percent of gross domestic product. , concluded that this was the highest amount since the collapse. Founded in the Soviet Union in 1991.
Ukraine has so far fended off Russia with the help of American and European military aid, with at least $35 billion in arms and other supplies already handed over as of 2023. (The Kiel Institute for the World Economy, which also tracks military aid to Ukraine, puts the amount of aid from Canada, Europe and the United States at more than $100 billion since February 2022, despite pledges. (Includes support that has not yet been provided.)
U.S. assistance to Ukraine includes, at least in part, a bid to shore up NATO allies, U.S. military bases in Europe, and domestic arms manufacturers that are replenishing the stockpiles of arms and ammunition that have been largely depleted by Western defenses against Russia. Contains funds. For example, at least $37 billion of the $60 billion aid package for Ukraine passed by the House of Representatives last weekend is expected to go to U.S. weapons producers. The Biden administration says it has provided more than $44 billion in total security assistance to Ukraine since February 2022.
The war has also prompted European countries to step up military spending, which rose by about 16% across the continent last year to $588 billion, according to the institute's report. Some of the money went to Ukraine, but leaders across Europe have increased spending on their militaries, particularly in Eastern Europe, where military spending rose 31% last year.
Twenty of NATO's 32 countries are expected to spend at least 2% of their gross domestic product (GDP) on defense this year. Ten years ago, only three companies met this standard.
Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Union's executive branch, told military industry executives in Brussels last week that “the cost of security insecurity, the cost of a Russian victory, is far greater than the savings we can make now.” Told.
“The cost of facing multiple threats and conflicts unprepared is far greater than we can afford,” she says. “This is why it is time for Europe to strengthen its defense and security.”
