STOCKHOLM, April 29 (NNN-BERNAMA-SPUTNIK) — The global military spending increased in 2018 by 2.6 per cent up to US$1.822 trillion, with the United States, China and Saudi Arabia topping the list, reported Sputnik news agency, citing data released by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) on Monday.
“Total world military expenditure rose to US$1.822 billion in 2018, representing an increase of 2.6 per cent from 2017,” SIPRI said in a press release.
The institute pointed out that the global military expenditure had increased for the second time in a row and reached the highest level since 1988 when this figure was published for the first time.
“World spending is now 76 per cent higher than the post-cold war low in 1998. World military spending in 2018 represented 2.1 per cent of global gross domestic product (GDP) or US$239 per person,” the SIPRI’s press release said.
The United States remains the most powerful state in terms of military expenditure with US$649billion spent on defence, according to SIPRI.
“US military spending grew – for the first time since 2010 – by 4.6 per cent, to reach US$649 billion in 2018. The USA remained by far the largest spender in the world, and spent almost as much on its military in 2018 as the next eight largest-spending countries combined,” the institute stressed.
China increased its military expenditure by 5.0 per cent to US$250 billion, being the world’s second largest spender. Saudi Arabia comes third, with its military budget amounting to US$67.6 billion.
India comes fourth with US$66.5 billion, while France is fifth with US$63.8 billion, according to SIPRI.
Russia took sixth place with US$61.4 billion spent on defence in 2018, which is 3.5 per cent less than in 2017 when Russia was ranked fourth.
“Most notably, Russia ranked outside the top five for the first time since 2006,” SIPRI stressed.
SIPRI added that six out of 10 countries with the highest military burden were located in the Middle East: Oman, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Jordan, Israel and Lebanon.
–NNN-BERNAMA-SPUTNIK
