World military expenditure reaches $1.8 trillion in 2018
SIPRI says that China, the second-largest spender in the world, increased its military expenditure by 5.0 percent to $250 billion in 2018. This was the 24th consecutive year of increase in Chinese military expenditure. Its spending in 2018 was almost 10 times higher than in 1994, and accounted for 14 percent of world military spending. ‘Growth in Chinese military spending tracks the country’s overall economic growth,’ says Tian. ‘China has allocated 1.9 percent of its GDP to the military every year since 2013.’
Three decades of growth in military spending in Asia and Oceania
Military expenditure in Asia and Oceania has risen every year since 1988. At $507 billion, military spending in the region accounted for 28 percent of the global total in 2018, compared with just 9.0 percent in 1988.
In 2018 India increased its military spending by 3.1 percent to $66.5 billion. Military expenditure by Pakistan grew by 11 percent (the same level of growth as in 2017), to reach $11.4 billion in 2018. South Korean military expenditure was $43.1 billion in 2018—an increase of 5.1 percent compared with 2017 and the highest annual increase since 2005.
“The tensions between countries in Asia as well as between China and the United States are major drivers for the continuing growth of military spending in the region,” says Siemon Wezeman, a senior researcher with the SIPRI AMEX programme.
Increases in Central and East European countries
Several countries in Central and Eastern Europe made large increases in their military expenditure in 2018. Spending by Poland rose by 8.9 percent in 2018 to $11.6 billion, while Ukraine’s spending was up by 21 percent to $4.8 billion. Spending by Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania and Romania also grew (ranging from 18 percent to 24 percent) in 2018.
“The increases in Central and Eastern Europe are largely due to growing perceptions of a threat from Russia,” said Pieter Wezeman, a senior researcher with the SIPRI AMEX programme. “This is despite the fact that Russian military spending has fallen for the past two years.”
At $61.4 billion, Russian military spending was the sixth highest in the world in 2018. Its spending decreased by 3.5 percent compared with 2017.
Other notable developments
· Military spending in South America rose by 3.1 percent in 2018. This was mainly due to the increase in Brazilian spending (by 5.1 percent), the second increase in as many years.
· Military expenditure in Africa fell by 8.4 percent in 2018, the fourth consecutive annual decrease since the peak in spending in 2014. There were major decreases in spending by Algeria (–6.1 percent), Angola (–18 percent) and Sudan (–49 percent).
· Military spending by states in the Middle East for which data is available fell by 1.9 percent in 2018.
· Total military expenditure by all 29 North Atlantic Treaty Organization members was $963 billion in 2018, which accounted for 53 percent of world spending.
· The largest absolute increase in spending in 2018 was by the USA ($27.8 billion), while the biggest decrease was by Saudi Arabia (–$4.6 billion).
· Military spending in Turkey increased by 24 percent in 2018 to $19.0 billion, the highest annual percentage increase among the world’s top 15 military spenders.
· Six of the 10 countries with the highest military burden (military spending as a proportion of GDP) in the world in 2018 are in the Middle East: Saudi Arabia (8.8 percent of GDP), Oman (8.2 percent), Kuwait (5.1 percent), Lebanon (5.0 percent), Jordan (4.7 percent) and Israel (4.3 percent).
* All percentage changes are expressed in real terms (constant 2017 prices).
