Despite COVID-19 global military spending almost reaches $2tn in 2020: SIPRI

Despite the global economic slowdown brought down by the coronavirus pandemic the countries continued to increase their military spending in 2020.

Total global military expenditure rose to $1981 billion last year, an increase of 2.6 percent in real terms from 2019, according to new data published today by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). The five biggest spenders in 2020, which together accounted for 62 percent of global military expenditure, were the United States, China, India, Russia, and the United Kingdom.

As per the report, the 2.6pc increase in world military spending came in a year when the global gross domestic product (GDP) shrank by 4.4pc, largely due to the economic impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic. As a result, military spending as a share of GDP—the military burden—reached a global average of 2.4 percent in 2020, up from 2.2 percent in 2019. This was the biggest year-on-year rise in the military burden since the global financial and economic crisis in 2009.

SIPRI said that even though military spending rose globally, some countries explicitly reallocated part of their planned military spending to pandemic response, such as Chile and South Korea. Several others, including Brazil and Russia, spent considerably less than their initial military budgets for 2020.

“We can say with some certainty that the pandemic did not have a significant impact on global military spending in 2020,” said Dr Diego Lopes da Silva, Researcher with the SIPRI Arms and Military Expenditure Programme. “It remains to be seen whether countries will maintain this level of military spending through the second year of the pandemic.”

In 2020 US military expenditure reached an estimated $778 billion, representing an increase of 4.4 percent over 2019. As the world’s largest military spender, the USA accounted for 39 percent of total military expenditure in 2020.

China’s military expenditure, the second-highest in the world, is estimated to have totalled $252 billion in 2020. This represents an increase of 1.9 percent over 2019 and 76 percent over the decade 2011–20.

Whereas, military expenditure of all members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) saw their military burden rise in 2020.

Russia’s military expenditure increased by 2.5 percent in 2020 to reach $61.7 billion. This was the second consecutive year of growth. Whereas, with a total of $59.2 billion, the UK became the fifth largest spender in 2020. The UK’s military spending was 2.9 percent higher than in 2019 but 4.2 percent lower than in 2011.

In addition to China, India ($72.9 billion), Japan ($49.1 billion), South Korea ($45.7 billion) and Australia ($27.5 billion) were the largest military spenders in the Asia and Oceania region.