GLOBAL military spending has reached an all-time high with the steepest year-on-year increase since 2009, according to new figures.
On Monday, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) published its latest figures on international military spending.
It found that world military expenditure reached an all time high of $2443 billion in 2023.
All the world's the largest nations choose to increase defence spending amid fraught geopolitical circumstances in the Middle East and Ukraine.
For the first time since 2009 military expenditure increased in all five geographical regions defined by Sipri, with particularly large increases seen in Europe, Asia and Oceania, and the Middle East.
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“The unprecedented rise in military spending is a direct response to the global deterioration in peace and security,” said Nan Tian, senior researcher with SIPRI’s military expenditure and arms production programme.
“States are prioritizing military strength but they risk an action–reaction spiral in the increasingly volatile geopolitical and security landscape.”
In Russia, military spending increased by 24% to an estimated $109bn in 2023.
That represents a 57% rise since 2014 – the year Russia annexed Crimea.
However, Ukraine also increased its military spending by more than 50% in 2023, with defence now representing 58% of total government expenditure at $64.8bn.
When combined with the $35bn of military aid sent to Ukraine, the country’s military spending amounts to around 91% of Russia’s.
The 31 members of NATO accounted for $1341bn in spending, with the USA increasing its military expenditure by 2.3% to reach $916bn.
“For European NATO states, the past two years of war in Ukraine have fundamentally changed the security outlook,’ said Lorenzo Scarazzato, a researcher with SIPRI’s military expenditure and arms production programme.
“This shift in threat perceptions is reflected in growing shares of GDP being directed towards military spending, with the NATO target of 2% increasingly being seen as a baseline rather than a threshold to reach.”
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Estimated military expenditure in the Middle East increased by 9% to $200bn in 2023. This was the highest annual growth rate in the region seen in the past decade.
Israel’s military spending—the second largest in the region after Saudi Arabia—grew by 24% to reach $27.5bn in 2023.
The spending increase was mainly driven by Israel’s large-scale offensive in Gaza following the Hamas attack of October 7.
Iran has also greatly increased its military spending over the past four years, spending a total of $10.3bn in 2023.
The share of military spending allocated to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps grew from 27% in 2019 to 37% in 2023.
It comes as The National launches a special week-long series on UK arms sales and how they impact other regions around the world.
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