Global military spending increased by seven percent in 2023 to $2.43 trillion, the largest annual increase since 2009, reported the Swedish think tank on Monday.
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) stated that the United States, China, and Russia were the largest military spenders in 2023.
The total spending of NATO member countries accounted for 55 percent of global spending.
SIPRI noted that most European alliance members increased their expenditures. The U.S. raised its spending by two percent to $916 billion, which represents about two-thirds of NATO’s total military spending.
According to SIPRI data, Russian military expenditures increased by 24 percent to an estimated $109 billion. Ukraine increased its spending by 51 percent to $65 billion and received at least $35 billion in military aid from other countries.
– Combined, this aid and Ukraine’s own military expenditures were equivalent to about 91 percent of Russian spending – stated the think tank.
SIPRI researcher Lorenzo Scarazzato said that the last two years of war in Ukraine have fundamentally changed the security perspective for European NATO members.
– This shift in threat perceptions is reflected in the growing shares of GDP directed towards military spending, with NATO’s two percent target increasingly seen as a fundamental value rather than a threshold to be reached – he said.
