Military expenditure worldwide last year rose to nearly US$2 trillion, defying the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers said yesterday.
Global military spending increased by 2.6 percent to US$1,981 billion last year, when global GDP shrank 4.4 percent, a Stockholm International Peace Research Institute report said.
Diego Lopes da Silva, one of report’s authors, said that the development was unexpected.
Photo: AFP / US Army / Bridgett Siter
“Because of the pandemic, one would think military spending would decrease, but it’s possible to conclude with some certainty that COVID-19 did not have a significant impact on global military spending, in 2020 at least,” Lopes da Silva said.
However, he said that due to the nature of military spending, it could take time for countries “to adapt to the shock.”
That military spending continued to increase in a year with an economic downturn meant the “military burden,” or the share of military spending out of total GDP, had increased as well.
The overall share rose from 2.2 percent to 2.4 percent, the largest year-on-year increase since the financial crisis of 2009.
The world’s two biggest spenders by far were the US and China, with Washington accounting for 39 percent of overall expenditure and Beijing for 13 percent.
China’s military spending has risen in tandem with its growing economy, and has seen an increase for 26 consecutive years, reaching US$252 billion last year.
The US also increased its spending for the third year in a row last year, after seven years of reductions.
“This reflects growing concerns over perceived threats from strategic competitors such as China and Russia, as well as the [administration of former US president Donald Trump’s] drive to bolster what it saw as a depleted US military,” Alexandra Marksteiner, another author of the report, said.
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